Home | Building SAFER Communities

Alcohol Forum Ireland (AFI) and the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network (ICAAN) were one of five successful projects in Ireland funded as part a new €1.5 million drug prevention and education funding scheme. This scheme supports the strengthening the prevention of drug and alcohol use and associated harms among children and young people in Ireland.

The AFI/ICAAN project, Building SAFER Communities, is based on the World Health Organisations (WHO) SAFER package of high impact policy measures to reduce and prevent alcohol harm. Over the next three years, this demonstration project will be delivered in 12 communities in Ireland, supported by seven local and regional Drug and Alcohol Task Forces. The SAFER package has five interventions:

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The SAFER interventions

1. Strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability

Enacting and enforcing restrictions on commercial or public availability of alcohol through laws, policies, and programmes are important ways to reduce harmful use of alcohol. Such strategies provide essential measures to prevent easy access to alcohol by young people and other vulnerable and high-risk groups.

2. Advance and enforce drink driving counter measures

Road users who are impaired by alcohol have a significantly higher risk of being involved in a crash. Enacting and enforcing strong drink-driving laws and low blood alcohol concentration limits via sobriety checkpoints and random breath testing will help to turn the tide.

3. Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions and treatment

Health professionals have an important role in helping people to reduce or stop their drinking, and to provide effective interventions for those in need of help and their families.

4. Enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion

Enforcing bans and comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion will bring public health benefits and help protect children, adolescents, and abstainers from the pressure to start consuming alcohol, and prevent people in recovery from relapse.

5. Raise awareness that excise taxes and other pricing policies reduces harmful drinking

Alcohol taxation and other policies like Minimum Unit Prices are among the most effective alcohol control measures. An increase in excise taxes on alcoholic beverages is a proven measure to reduce harmful use of alcohol by adolescents and adults and it provides governments revenue to offset the economic costs of harmful use of alcohol.

The SAFER Communities

This demonstration project will be delivered in 10 communities in Ireland

Ballymun

Celbridge

Cork City

Drogheda

Leixlip

Letterkenny

Listowel

Monaghan

Sligo

Canal Communities

SAFER National Steering Group Members

Name	Organisation / Role
Senator Aubrey McCarthy (Chair)	Seanad Éireann
Paula Leonard	CEO, Alcohol Forum Ireland
Orla Fagan	National Lead, Community Action on Alcohol Forum Ireland
Anne Doyle	Research Officer, Health Research Board (HRB)
Dr. Aisling Sheehan	HSE - National Lead Alcohol & Mental Health & Wellbeing Programme
Caroline Jordan	National Policy Manager, Family Support & Social Inclusion, Tusla
Chief Superintendent Jane Humphries	Garda National Community Engagement Bureau, An Garda Síochána
Professor Thomas Babor	Dept. of Public Health Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Hugh Greaves	Coordinator Ballymun Local DATF
Marie Lawless	Policy & Research Officer, Ballymun Local DATF and SAFER Lead for Ballymun
Andy Ogle	Coordinator for North East Regional DATF and SAFER Lead for Drogheda and Monaghan
Steven Joyce	Development Worker, South West Region DATF, Celbridge & Leixlip SAFER sites
Aisling Holland	Team Leader Canal Communities Regional Addiction Service (CCRAS) - Canal Communities DATF (includes Bluebell, Inchicore & Rialto)
Angela King	Chair of Canal Communities SAFER Local Steering Group
Gordon Kinsley	Development Worker, Southern Regional DATF, Listowel SAFER site
Lorna Curry	Development Worker, North West DATF, Sligo SAFER site
Donna McGee	Interim Coordinator, North West DATF, Letterkenny SAFER site
Grainne Ketelaar	Chair of Letterkenny SAFER Local Steering Group
Gemma O'Leary	Development Worker, Cork Local DATF, Cork SAFER site

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Empowering public health advocates to navigate alcohol policy challenges

Adults in the WHO European Region consume an average of 9.2 litres of pure alcohol per year, making them the heaviest drinkers globally. In this region, alcohol is a leading cause of death, responsible for nearly 800 000 deaths annually, largely from noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Implementing evidence-based policies is crucial to safeguard public health and lessen the strain of alcohol-related harms on health systems and communities. A major obstacle to this is that policy-makers are often confronted with conflicting perspectives when addressing alcohol-related issues. Developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Alcohol policy playbook is designed for policy-makers, advocates and public health professionals. It addresses key questions about the impact of alcohol and the efficacy of key policies, including pricing, availability controls, marketing restrictions, labelling, drink-driving interventions, and regulations for no- and low-alcohol products. For each question, the Playbook contrasts the alcohol industry’s views with public health evidence, helping users to identify when alcohol-related issues are being framed from a commercial perspective. It guides policymakers to prioritize public health evidence with the aim of reducing alcohol-related harm, improving health outcomes and reducing the financial burden on public finances.