Guinness faces backlash in Ireland amid binge-drinking concerns

It has been immortalised in prose, given to mothers of newborn babies in hospitals and hosts the most popular tourist attraction in the country. Few things are as quintessentially Irish as Guinness.

But as drinks giant Diageo promotes "Arthur's Day" this Thursday - a global marketing initiative based on Arthur Guinness, inventor of the creamy stout - the company faces a backlash in Ireland that reflects growing international concern about binge drinking.

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) has joined forces with several prominent musicians and artists to call for a boycott of Arthur's Day, which will see Diageo support free music gigs and promotions in pubs across 55 countries.

"With high rates of alcohol consumption and binge drinking, the last thing Ireland needed was another excuse to drink," said Frank Murray, chair of the RCPI's alcohol policy group.

Irish folk singer Christy Moore is releasing a protest song about the event, which alleges Diageo has "suckered us into their charade" and warns of drink fuelled chaos in hospitals on Thursday night.

Alex White, Ireland's deputy health minister, told the Financial Times he regretted Diageo's decision to invent what he described as a "pseudo-national event" for the purposes of promoting alcohol to young people.

Criticism of Arthur's Day, which was introduced by Diageo in 2009, reflects a significant cultural shift in a country that for many years has eulogised Guinness and pubs, which are important draws for tourists.

It comes amid a frenetic lobbying campaign as Dublin considers imposing a minimum price on alcoholic drinks and curbs on alcohol advertising and sponsorship of sports events.

"There is a serious problem," said Mr White, who is pushing to introduce the policy. "The hard truth about alcohol in Ireland is that we drink too much and we drink it in too harmful ways," he said.

Diageo said the protests against Arthur's Day are part of a campaign designed to influence Dublin ahead of a key meeting of a government committee on alcohol policy next Monday.

"I don't think it is a public shift in attitudes," said Peter O'Brien, corporate relations director, Diageo, western Europe. "There are a small number of people, well intentioned people, health professionals and others. But many, many of them are essentially anti-use of alcohol. They don't distinguish between use and misuse."

He added: "They keep saying lets penalise alcohol, lets make it less available, restrict the marketing, ban the sponsorship, raise the price and stop people from drinking and that is not what the public wants in Ireland."

Dublin's proposed crackdown on alcohol follows similar moves elsewhere. Scotland is embroiled in a court battle with the drinks industry over its plan to set a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol. France has already banned alcohol sponsorship of sports events, while Turkey moved this year to impose curbs on alcohol advertising.

Ireland tops the European league table in terms of binge drinking, according to a 2010 Eurobarometer survey. The study found 44 per cent of Irish people said they had engaged in binge drinking - consuming five or more drinks in a single sitting - over the previous 12 months. The EU average was 29 per cent.

Medical organisations claim the problem has reached epidemic levels with hospital admissions for alcoholic liver disease almost doubling between 1995 and 2007. The RCPI says excessive drinking puts a strain on resources, noting ambulance call-outs were 30 per cent higher than normal on Arthur's Day last year. One in four emergency hospital admissions is alcohol related, it says.

But Dublin faces fierce resistance from the powerful drinks industry, which warns the pub trade is already in a fragile condition due to the economic crisis. It also warns that any changes to alcohol sponsorship laws would financially cripple sporting bodies.

The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland published a report this week showing that 959 pubs had closed between 2007 and 2012, almost one in eight establishments. Bar sales fell by a third and employment by a quarter since the economic crisis began, it says.

"The future of Irish pubs and independent off licences remains a source of great concern," said Mr O'Brien.

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