THE FATHER OF Cork teenager Caolan Mulrooney has warned that an unhealthy drinking culture exists among young people, and said that the decisions of the older generation are to blame.
Eugene Mulrooney said parents around Ireland needed to “take responsibility” for changes in society which have led to an increase in binge drinking.
Caolan, 19, died after falling from a wall on the way home from a night out in Cork last December. He was reported missing but it was several days before his body was found.
The teenager’s father yesterday launched a campaign for hazards such as sudden drops to be better signposted in cities.
He said Caolan’s death was “not solely a drink story”, but added that the previous generation needed to examine the direction in which society has moved over recent decades. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mulrooney said:
I think we need to take responsibility for our decisions over the last 20 or 30 years, and look at what we can do to reverse that drinking habit. Because drinking was there years ago, but it was a different type of drinking. The patterns have changed.
Mulrooney called for a debate over “what our own generation has done or has not done to provide a facility for young people, which has forced them into abnormal drinking habits.” He continued:
We must now try to take control and give them the facilities whereby they can go out and enjoy the evening time, enjoy a couple of drinks over a normal period of a night, and develop a mature drinking habit.
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