While drinking among young people declined from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, since 2015 that downward trend has reversed. ‘Youth drinking in Ireland: What’s the real picture?’ includes data from the 2025 Healthy Ireland Survey into drinking habits among the public. “In recent years a narrative has emerged that youth drinking is perhaps no longer an issue in Ireland. The fact that there are more than 43,000 young people with alcohol dependence across Ireland should be a wake-up call for government to start taking meaningful action to curb youth drinking. Every year approximately 50,000 children start drinking in Ireland.