Wasted (31 page)

The government, too, have a role to play in helping modify behaviour and acting on available data, although whether or not a strong legislative hand would have any impact on drinking patterns
remains to be seen. Despite taking the lead in inaugurating the workplace smoking ban, smoking numbers in Ireland have crept up in recent years, putting us above the
UK
and
us
in percentage terms (29 per cent of the adult population in Ireland smoke, compared to 20 per cent in the
US
and 24 per cent in the
UK
). So while
wider society may regard smoking in public places as totally unacceptable, smokers, it seems, are carrying on regardless and the legislation has had little positive effect on actual numbers smoking
in Ireland. The smoking lobby point to the fact that once the ban had been introduced, areas such as establishing smoking helplines and promoting education and awareness lapsed, thereby allowing
numbers to creep back up again. So there is a debate as to whether a similar crackdown on drinking hours and availability would in any way change drinking levels in Ireland.

But something has to be done, and at the very least a concerted effort made to form a consensus approach within government. As it is, different departments appear to be skirting around the
fringes of the issue, without actually grasping the bigger issues or acting on a coherent policy.

As things stand, government doesn’t seem to have the political will to take on the drinks industry and row in behind the health lobby’s stance. Indeed, the government set out their
stall in a recent emergency budget (April 2009). When presented with a chance to raise the price of alcohol, they declined. While cigarettes and diesel rose by 25c and 5c respectively, alcohol
remained unchanged. The reason? There was ‘no scope for increases in excise duties on alcohol or petrol because of the substantial risk of loss of revenue by the purchase of these items in
Northern Ireland’, explained Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan. We’re still justifying alcohol policy in financial rather than health or social terms. In the weeks prior to the budget
the drinks industry had lobbied hard for excise on alcohol to remain unchanged. The government, it seemed, listened. At the time of writing, plans are afoot by government to tackle loss-leading
alcohol promotions and cut-price deals. This is in recognition of the fact that the cost of alcohol has fallen sharply in recent years while the number of outlets selling alcohol has increased
dramatically. For instance, between 2001 and
2007,
there was an increase of almost
70
per cent in the number of off-licences and shops selling
alcohol. In some outlets it is now cheaper to buy a bottle of beer than a bottle of water. Tesco was one of the stores criticised for promotions in recent times, when it ran a St Patrick’s
Day offer of 48 cans of beer for €24. Many off-licences now have volunteered to close their stores for part of St Patrick’s Day, yet public disturbances and large-scale street drinking
continue to go hand in hand with celebrating the national day of Irishness.

During the course of this book I’d like to think I have exposed some of the reasons, from issues of circumstance to those of emotional need, that lie behind our problem drinking. Those
underlying issues, coupled with a degree of uncertainty on how best to tackle them, have created something of a perfect storm for problem drinking in Ireland over the past few decades. Ironically,
the current generation is the first to emerge free from past oppressions such as widespread poverty, religious persecution and questions of national identity. Yet still, there is often a need to
dilute everyday experience and life events through large-scale abuse of alcohol.

——

On a personal level, I am content with my sobriety. It can be challenging living in Ireland and not drinking alcohol. It can also be difficult to identify whether or not you
have a problem in the first place, given that we live in a culture where tolerance levels and drinking volumes are so high. I believe it’s not by comparing ourselves to each other that we
will address our drinking; it will come more from making international comparisons. Simply put, my sobriety is far less of an issue and rarely discussed when I am in another country. In Ireland,
passing on wine at dinner or ordering a mineral water in a bar on a Friday night will often be marked, especially in new company. My experience is that this doesn’t happen nearly as much
elsewhere.

I am still proud to be Irish, still enthralled and excited by many aspects of this country and its people. I’m just less enamoured with the manner in which we engage with other socially. I
find it frustrating, depressing and often off-putting. I know that after I came out of rehab, people would say, ‘Oh, he had a problem with drink.’ But I don’t feel as if I’m
the one with the problem. I look more critically at society since I got sober and often find myself unable to relate. Yesterday, stopped in traffic lights at 4 p.m. in Cork city centre, I saw a
group of teenage girls vomiting outside a bar where they were being served. They were clearly underage and drunk. Ahead of me was a tour bus of what looked like American golf tourists. They took
pictures. So,
this
is Ireland?

Whether or not the current generation will redefine Ireland, free from alcoholic associations, remains to be seen. There are signs that a café culture is beginning to take hold in cities
and towns around the country. This will take time to root and flourish, and affect in a substantive way the manner in which we engage with other socially. Alcoholism is still something of a taboo
in Ireland, its sufferers still often seen as damaged goods, socially scarred and emotionally fragile. At least that’s the feeling you can allow yourself to succumb to, unless you search for
an Ireland without alcohol. Such an Ireland does exist, it’s just that it is a little slow in revealing itself.

Of all the people I spoke to for this book, those Irish I met in Cricklewood have remained in my mind the longest. There, in dingy Dickensian hovels, clutching onto fragments of an Ireland long
gone, is a version of ourselves and our overdependence on alcohol almost too shocking to contemplate. I think of those men, many dead, others on the way, and hope that the next generation will note
their dependencies, self-delusions and struggles. There’s dignity in their desperation, as well as resignation and insight and an acknowledgment of the grip alcohol can have over self and
society. Often, when I reflect on the good things sobriety has brought me, I replay the interview with Séamus. The fizz of a single-bar heater is audible in the background, and between cups
of cider, he examines what is left of his life and his environment.

‘At the same time all me mates were all heavy drinkers. Jesus—they’re all dead now. Tom is the only survivor. Some of them would knock on the door at two or three o’clock
in the morning. And sure I’d answer the door straight away for them no problem at all. Jesus, they’re dead now. The man other side that wall there. Billy Simpson. He was sixty-eight.
And Patsy was in the room across, he was sixty-nine. And Eóin in the back room was from Achill Island. But Jesus, we were all the one gang, a crazy gang. All great mates. Nobody would see
each other wrong. It’s a different ball game now. It’s beating me now and all, I know it is. At the same time I’m fighting a good aul’ battle as best I can.’

For me, the above serves as a timely reminder of what can happen when society and self come to rely too much on the social. It always leaves me grateful that I was given an opportunity to
redefine my Irishness. Others, I am acutely aware, have not been so lucky.

Dedicated to the memory of Rose O’Connell

To Mam and Dad for keeping the faith.

Óran for being all any father could ask for in a son.

Sophie for love and friendship.

Damien, Sinead and Aoife for putting up with me during the ‘lost’ years.

John ‘Granda’ O’Connell and Peg O’Donnell for paving the family way.

Mannix Berry for opening the door all those years back.

Fergal Tobin for his belief from the outset, constant encouragement and professionalism.

John Leahy for a huge amount of time and support. Fellow salesman Aidan Mulcahy, Brian Carey, Faith O’Grady for her valuable advice and support, Gordon Deegan, Nick Kennedy for the poetic
eye, Therese Tierney for calling up, Ray Scannell for friendship and an appreciation of fine cake, Shane Hegarty for swapping notes, Miriam Donohoe for all her support, Shane Malone for
encouragement and solid advice, Rachel Andrews for notes, Fintan O’Toole, Caroline Walsh, Barry O’Keeffe, Conor Goodman, Carmel Daly, Hugh Linehan, and all at the
Irish Times
for
guidance, advice and an income, John and Christina Kelly, Eoin Ó Cathain, Theresa and Caroline Cavanagh, Rosaleen Quinlan, Richard Fitzpatrick, Fawn Allen for sharing some of the journey, Dr
Chris Luke, Tony McCarthy and all at Forefront, Tom Donnelly, Ryan Tubridy and all at the ‘Tubridy Show’, Colm Moore and 96
FM
, Cianna Campbell, Joe and Grace
Carey, Eileen Sweeney, the Fahy family, Neil Pearson, Mary Bohan, Denis O’Connell, Ciara Dwyer, Thomas Power, Fiona Kearney, Fergal and all at The Cornerhouse Bar in Cork, John Kennedy, Liam
Heylin, Danny Maher, Pat Keogh and family, Joe and Mary O’Connell and family, Jim O’Dowd and family, the Hehir family, Christy McNamara, Ann Sweeney, Una and Diarmuid Clarke, Madeline
Johnston, Sara Keating, Steve, Trevor, Shay Howe, Eoin Vaughan, Professor Joe Barry, Colette Sheridan, Dr Stanton Peele, Ronan Farren, Barry O’Sullivan, Gerry Collison for taking a punt on
me, Cilla Kotey, Dr Bhamjee, Dr Alex Michel and Niamh, Geraldine Hartnett and all at the Aislinn Centre, Frances Black, Robbie Breen, Deirdre Rennison Kunz, Nicki Howard, Neil Ryan, Esther Kallen,
Mark Nixon, Teresa Daly, Mary Coughlan, Declan Doherty, Mike Darcy, Eibhlin Roche and the Guinness Archives, Eoin Fahy, Will O’Connell, Cork City Library, Knud Hedeager Nielsen, Gerard and
Marie and family, Jean Doyle, John Egan, Dr Brian Girvin, Dr Mary Tilki, John Doocey, Donal Ó Drisceoil, Lorraine O’Connell, The Shannon Bar, Danish Tourist Board, Greg Canty, Deirdre
Waldron, Doreen O’Mahony and all at Fuzion
PR
, Martina Carroll, Niall Toibin, Des Bishop, Cathal Murray, Ger and Jemma, Paddy O’Gorman, Kathleen Fitzpatrick,
Paul Bugler, Judy Murphy, Pauline Scanlon, Donogh Hennessy, Michael McSweeney, Tabor Lodge, Knight of Glin, Mark O’Halloran, Nuala O’Faolain, Ursula Earley, Paul Durcan, John Creedon,
Jimmy MacCarthy, Edel O’Connell, Fred, Sinead Harrington, Brendan and Lucy Fitzgerald, Jack L, Marian Egan, Tim Vaughan, Joe Dermody, Emma Forrester, Ger Fitzgibbon, Vic Merriman, Fr
Micheál Mac Gréil, Professor John A. Murphy, the Irish Pioneer Movement, Seamus Heaney and all the staff at the Kingsley Hotel.

The author and publishers thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Jimmy Crowley for a verse from ‘A Sorrowful Lamentation on the recent Price Increases on Ales, Wines and Spirits’, from ‘The Boys of Fairhill’ by Jimmy
Crowley and Stokers Lodge, CRO 001 on Freestate Records, [email protected].

Jimmy MacCarthy for two verses from ‘Missing You’.

Gill & Macmillan
Hume Avenue
Park West
Dublin 12
with associated companies throughout the world
www.gillmacmillan.ie

© Brian O’Connell 2009, 2012
First published by Gill & Macmillan 2009
This ebook edition published by Gill & Macmillan 2012

978 07171 4599 7 (print)
987 07171 5563 7 (epub)
978 07171 5564 4 (mobi)

Cover design by Anú Design (www.anu-design.ie)
Cover photograph by Nix (nixfoto.com)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission of the publishers.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The website addresses referred to in this book were correct at the time of first publication.

About the Author

Brian O’Connell’s work as a journalist appears in the
Irish Times
and several international publications. In 2007, he won the John Healy National Print
Award. He has reported from India on child trafficking, the Democratic Republic of Congo on gender violence, and Mozambique on the effects of climate change. Brian is a regular contributor to Irish
radio and in 2009 co-presented a traditional music series on
RTÉ
1 television, entitled ‘The Reel Deal’.

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