Mongan, Deirdre (2007) Alcohol consumption in Ireland. Drugnet
Ireland, Issue 24, Winter 2007 . pp. 2-3. The recently published
report, Alcohol consumption in Ireland 1986–2006,1 written by Dr
Anne Hope for the Health Service Executive – Alcohol
Implementation Group, explains how alcohol consumption in
Ireland is measured and describes trends in consumption since
1986. Alcohol consumption is measured by dividing the total
alcohol sales figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners by
the population figures provided by the Central Statistics Office
(CSO). The Revenue Commissioners compile annual alcohol sales
figures based on the volume of each alcoholic beverage type
(beer, spirits, wine and cider) released from bonded warehousing
on payment of excise duty. The figures for beer and spirits are
given in litres of pure alcohol. Figures for wine and cider are
given by total volume, and the pure alcohol content is
calculated based on an ABV (alcohol by volume) rate of 12.5% in
the case of wine and 4.5% in the cas