Press Release

Successful projects aimed at reducing alcohol misuse

Friday, 06 June 2008

The former Mayor, Alderman Drew Thompson has paid tribute to the role played by the Civic Alcohol Forum, which he chaired during his Mayoral year.

Paying tribute to the work carried out by the Forum, Alderman Thompson said it had successfully delivered on a number of initiatives aimed at reducing alcohol misuse through successful partnership work.

“There has been real progress over the past year in getting the responsible attitude to alcohol message across to the public. Thanks to the successful partnership approach we have helped raise awareness of the need to change the current alcohol culture and help create a responsible position for alcohol use within the current social environment.

“A number of successful initiatives were run out over the past year to build on the work carried out by the forum in the past. They included the Just Add Water Campaign, based on the Swedish model and funded by the WDACT and initiated by three restaurants over a three-month period to encourage sensible drinking among customers by offering them a free and easy alternative to purchasing alcohol. The Respect the Shamrock-Respect Yourself Initiative which was launched in the run up to the St Patrick’s Day celebrations was another great success in making the event safe and enjoyable for patrons and greatly contributed to reducing the number of incidents associated with alcohol at this year’s celebrations.”

He added that the Forum’s proactive role in the safety management of the Halloween celebrations in the city had helped make last year’s a great success with the focus put on it being a family friendly event.

The former Mayor added that ongoing work on the continued implementation of the Off Licence Code of Practice and the Only 4 ID Scheme was being carried out by the Forum. The number of off licences signing up to the Code of Practice has increased while work has been carried out in association with the Community Safety Partnership’s Anti Social Behaviour Officer at Derry City Council to review the impact of alcohol and anti social behaviour. With reference to the Only 4 ID Scheme, work to get more schools involved and to introduce a Republic of Ireland ID is being considered.

Karen Phillips, Derry City Council’s Senior Environmental Health Officer, who works as programme manager for the Civic Alcohol Forum said the Forum is working on a number of key actions for the coming year that would further enhance the aims and objectives of the forum including a proposal to set up a pubwatch and night safe scheme as well as the development of a bottle marking research initiative as well as working with taxi proprietors and drivers to develop a code of practice.

“A lot of excellent work has been done over the past number of years to work towards creating a more responsible attitude to alcohol and obviously there is a lot of work yet to be done. We think the message is getting out there and people are beginning to take a step back and recognise the urgent need to change their attitudes to the current alcohol culture. The Forum hope that through continued partnership working we can initiate a process of cultural change with the support of the entire community,” she commented.

She added that work to develop strategic links with local authorities and community safety partnerships across Northern Ireland and with relevant bodies in the Republic would continue while work to implement a civic charter that has been developed by the forum will continue during 2008/09.

“The Civic Alcohol Forum has successfully delivered on a number of educational initiatives to reduce alcohol misuse thanks to the successful partnership that exists with the key stakeholders. We look forward to working in partnership next year and to deliver on a range of initiatives that will further enhance the good work we are doing to create a responsible attitude to alcohol.”

Ends

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