Donies mid week Top stories

The Republic of Ireland are in pot four for the European Championship in Poland and the Ukraine for 2012  

   

The Republic of Ireland are in pot four while England have been placed in the second group of seeds for the Euro 2012 finals draw, Uefa confirmed the seeding’s this morning Wednesday, with the group stage draw for next summer’s European Championship set to be made in Kiev on 2nd December.

England went unbeaten through their qualification campaign and will head to Poland and Ukraine among the favourites to take the top prize.

The Three Lions know they will be without talismanic striker Wayne Rooney for their first three fixtures at the Euros, but will still expect to make it through the group stage.

They will not be paired alongside arch-rivals Germany next year, with the Euro 2008 runners-up also placed in pot two, along with 2006 World Cup winners Italy and Russia.

Reigning world and European champions Spain are among the top seeds, alongside 2010 World Cup finalists Holland and co-hosts Poland and Ukraine – who have already been allocated to groups A and D respectively.

The Republic of Ireland booked their piece at the showpiece event on Tuesday night, following success in the play-offs, and they are readying themselves for their first appearance at a major international tournament in 10 years.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s side are in the fourth group of seeds along with Denmark, the Czech Republicand rejuvenated France.

That means the Irish cannot face France, the side who controversially denied them a place at the 2010 World Cup, until the knockout stages.

They could, however, take on Croatia, Greece, Portugal or Sweden - with that particular quartet making up pot three.

The Seedings for Euro 2012 are:

Pot 1: Spain, Holland, Poland, Ukraine.

Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia.

Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden.

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland.  

Republic of Ireland into the Euro 2012 

with a 5-1 aggregate win over Estonia                                                     

Ireland’s Stephen Ward, left, beats the Estonia goalkeeper Pavel Londak to score during the Euro 2012 play-off in Dublin.                 

Parents must examine their own drinking habits, says Minister Shortall

     

PARENTS ARE facilitating young people “misusing alcohol . . . by providing product and events”, the Minister of State for Primary Care has said.

Róisín Shortall, speaking at a conference on alcohol and crime yesterday, said parents needed “to consider their own ambivalent attitude” to their children’s drinking.

The conference heard almost 60 per cent of people had been intimidated, frightened or physically assaulted as a result of someone else’s drinking.

Ms Shortall said in discussions with various interested groups, she heard “very often” how parents themselves were serving and providing alcohol to young people.

The conference heard it was against the law to serve alcohol to an underage person in the home, unless with the “explicit permission” of parents or a guardian.

Many parents were “ambivalent” in their attitude to young people drinking, said Ms Shortall. “They say, ‘well at least they aren’t taking drugs’. Parents need to lead by example not only in relation to their own drinking but also in facilitating young people abusing alcohol.”

Results of a survey, conducted by Behaviour and Attitudes in September and based on interviews with 1,000 people over the age of 16, were presented.

It found almost one in 10 people had either been assaulted, or had a family member who had been, by someone under the influence of alcohol.

Fiona Ryan, director of Alcohol Action Ireland, which commissioned the research and hosted the conference, said the survey focused on public order and street crime.

Some 45 per cent of people said they had gone out of their way to avoid drunk people in a public space, and 22 per cent had felt unsafe in a public space due to someone’s drinking.

Some 20 per cent had been kept awake by drunk people outside their home, and 18 per cent had felt unsafe on public transport.

“Nine per cent, or one in 11 people surveyed, said they or a family member had been assaulted by someone under the influence of alcohol. When they had been assaulted, 44 per cent said they did not report the assault”.

She said there seemed to be an “under-reporting of alcohol-related assault”.

Ms Ryan asked whether people were minimising the seriousness of the incidents, concerned that they themselves had been drinking or protecting someone who had been drinking. There seems to be a high acceptance of alcohol-related harm.”

People were asked their views on the introduction of minimum pricing per unit of alcohol. “Our research finds 55 per cent of people in favour of it and 45 per cent against.”

Kathryn D’arcy, director of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, said her members were fully in favour of measures to reduce alcohol abuse. She said alcohol consumption had “fallen dramatically” over two years.            

Ireland has the most acute heroin                   problem in Europe 

  

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND HAS THE MOST ACUTE HEROIN PROBLEM IN EUROPE AND IS ALSO RANKED IN THE TOP THREE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES FOR DRUG-RELATED DEATHS, ACCORDING TO NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION RESEARCH.

THE LATEST EU DRUG REPORT ALSO SHOWS THE REPUBLIC IS STILL AMONG THE GROUP OF HIGH-PREVALENCE COUNTRIES FOR COCAINE USE, ALTHOUGH THE USE OF CANNABIS BY YOUNG PEOPLE IS NOT AS HIGH AS MANY OF OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS.

Of the 17 nations for which figures were provided for problem opiate use, mainly heroin, Ireland was ranked highest.

There were just over seven cases of opiate use per 1,000 population here in the past year, with Luxembourg and Italy second and third respectively with just under six cases per 1,000 respondents.

The picture in relation to cocaine use is worse in other EU nations than in Ireland.

However, the Republic is still included in that group of countries where cocaine use is high, according to the new report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

In terms of cocaine use by Irish people in the 15-34 year category, 3.1 per cent reported consuming the drug in the past year.

This put Ireland in the group of four nations with the highest cocaine use, with the UK topping the list (4.8 per cent) and Spain in second (3.1 per cent).

In a global context, of 28 nations surveyed for cocaine use only the UK, Spain, the US, Australia and Croatia reported higher usage levels of the drug than the Republic.

The research in relation to cannabis use reveals Ireland is eighth of 12 EU nations surveyed. Just under 2 per cent of males in the 15-34 years age group surveyed reported daily or near daily use of the drug.

This compared with almost 8 per cent of young men in Spain and more than 5 per cent of young men in France; the two nationalities that reported the highest use of the drug.

The prevalence of ecstasy use in the Republic was higher in the European context than cannabis use. The Republic was once again in the “highest prevalence” group of nations, ranking third with 9 per cent of those aged 15-34 reporting having used the drug in their lifetime.

This compared to 13 per cent in the UK and just over 9 per cent in the Czech Republic.

The estimated mortality rate among Irish adults aged 15-64 years due to drug-induced deaths is second highest in the EU at almost 70 deaths per million. The average drug-related death rate in the EU is 21 per million.

Uniform surveys were not used for all nations to determine usage levels for the different drug types.

For example, the opiate prevalence rates for Ireland were determined on the basis of surveys carried out as far back as 2006. It takes no account of trends in the five-year period since then.