Junior cycle students reach a tipping point of being introduced to drinking alcohol between 2nd and 3rd year, according to new research.
According to the study taken by NUI Maynooth for Drinkaware, 40% of teen have tried alcohol between first and second year.
That figures increases to 57% between second and third year.
Professor Sinead McGilloway, who led the research says young people drink "to relieve boredom or feel happy or good".
She also said many reported "peer pressure" as one of the reasons they tried alcohol.
Meanwhile Alcohol Action Ireland has criticised the government's decision to delay introducing price control measures contained in the Public Health Act.
An alliance of teaching practice with plentiful industry resources may well be efficient for schools, but as Martin Luther King said ‘education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society.’
Read our joint statement @AlcoholForumhttps://t.co/NkpBKIwK6N pic.twitter.com/9A3DPbTv29
— AlcoholActionIreland (@AlcoholIreland) March 9, 2021
The State recently said it was due to the North not adopting similar measures.
Eunan McKinney from Alcohol Action Ireland finds their defence spurious.
"The price measures within the Public Health Act are there as public health measures - they're not an economic measure."
Among other findings in the research - nearly 2-in-5 drinkers in that junior cycle cohort reported having negative impacts such as feeling ill as well as being involved in fights.
While only a quarter said they had gotten into trouble with their parents for drinking.
