Parental indifference to teenage drinking is leading to increasing alcohol consumption among 15- and 16-year-olds.

A Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force survey of students in this age category, in secondary schools in Galway City, found that just 56% of the young people surveyed said their parents would ‘disapprove’ of them being drunk.

The data, which was presented by the task force to Galway City Council on Monday, shows there has been a steady increase in parental tolerance of drinking over six years of ‘Planet Youth’ surveying.

“Wherever parental tolerance is high, the teenagers are drinking more, both at home and in the pub. Teenagers whose parents are more tolerant of drunkenness are four-times more likely to get drink,” states the report.

Emmet Major, Coordinator of the Planet Youth Project, told city councillors that since they carried out their first biennial survey in 2018, there had been a ‘steady increase’ in the number of young people reporting they had been ‘drunk in the last month’.

Statistics provided showed that more than 90% of the teenagers surveyed said their parents would be ‘against’ or ‘totally against’ them using cocaine, cannabis, smoking cigarettes or vaping.

However, just 56% of teens in the region, and 63% in Galway City, said their parents would be similarly displeased if they ‘got drunk’.

Read the full survey in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.