The first is demographic factors. We have a very high proportion of people aged under 30 in our society. That brings its own questions and patterns of behaviour. The second factor, our drug consumption dynamic, multiplies the effects of the first. Of particular relevance in this is the huge increase in consumption of cocaine, a drug that prompts much greater violence than others.
The third factor is the natural pendulum swing to law and order after a period of liberalism. The fourth is the growing and illiberal influence of public health ‘experts’. The fifth follows – the very poor and frequently unscientific analysis of these problems. This facilitates unsound conclusions. The last is the rise and rise of management culture, with its myths of responsive systems…
President McAleese involved herself in this debate in mid-May, speaking about the dark side of the Irish love of craic. It’s the growing love of crack I’d be a lot more worried about. But clearly, the temperance movement has infiltrated the speech-making process…
Minister Michael McDowell’s (he's the male in the photo above!) draconian approach to combating alcohol abuse (on the justice side) provoked much comment. A lot of people took the view that the problem is more to do with a lack of enforcement. By way of illustration, the Irish Independent published photos of a junkie group in Temple Bar showing‘open heroin use’ – with Gardai standing nearby.
Micheál Martin wasn’t going to hide his light under a bushel, and he waded in with anti-alcohol and anti-tobacco policies. Then in August, as if we didn’t have enough troubles, there were calls for a salt tax, a sugar tax, a fat tax and increased excise duties. Jasus, as if life isn’t taxing enough...