A new alcohol awareness campaign in Mayo is to target primary schoolchildren and their parents in the first programme of its kind in the country.
The early intervention campaign, by the Western Region Drugs Task Force, will see the responsible drinking message promoted to pre-teens for the first time in Ireland.
The programme was launched yesterday afternoon at Breaffy House Resort and is also to be launched in Roscommon.
The pre-teens campaign is designed to help reduce the early adoption of drinking behaviour in schoolchildren.
The campaign aims to encourage and support parents to engage in age-appropriate conversations with their sixth-class children about alcohol, its use and its effects on young bodies and minds.
The WRDTF said it was developed as a direct and practical response to both international research and to what it was hearing from teenagers themselves on the issue.
“If you ask teenagers directly at what age they think alcohol education should start they will overwhelmingly say that it is happening too late,” said Pat Conway, community liaison officer with the WRDTF for Mayo.
“They are telling us that it should commence when they are in sixth class and first year.”
Research shows that children as young as seven know about alcohol and its effects, according to Mr Conway.
“Between nine and 13, children begin to view alcohol more positively and some begin to experiment. Over 20 per cent of 12-year-olds say they have tried alcohol and by age 15, that figure jumps to 70 per cent.
"Evidence tells us, and our own work on the ground shows us, that educating young people around the time they make the transition between primary and secondary schools is crucial if we want to help reduce the number of children and young people drinking early," continued Mr Conway.
“Research also shows that parents are the most important influence on their children and what parents say and do will have a major effect on young people’s relationship with alcohol."
A new leaflet with helpful tips, information, and contacts will be distributed to sixth class parents through 278 primary schools in Mayo and Roscommon.
A series of parent information evenings will also take place in towns across the county in early December.
For more information about these meetings, contact Gillian Conway on (086 ) 7814779.
