There's a well established myth that there is something inherent in Irish people that causes our dysfunctinal relationship with alcohol.
It's a toxic myth because it makes us fatalistic and reluctant to believe things can change.

It's really ironic that though this myth has its roots in colonial propaganda, in tropes about the drunken Irish, you'll hear it cited by even the most ardent nationalists.
We have adopted that propaganda and made it our own to the point where it's a source of national pride.

People believe it's part of what makes us 'unique'. There's nothing unique about it. You see the same dysfunctional relationship with alcohol in the Scots, Welsh, Australians and in Native American communities. All scarred by colonialism.

In all cases, despite having it's roots in colonial propaganda, people's perceptions of their identity all involve the myth that they have a unique disposition that makes them dysfunctinal with alcohol, and that sense of uniqueness has morphed to a perverse pride.

As a country, unfortunately what is beginning to make us unique is the lack of political commitment to push past this myth and to confront the social and commercial drivers and sustainers of harm.
In the past 5 years, the Scottish and Welsh governments have taken tangible action.

It's no accident that this action has come about at a time when the Union is unraveling. There's a recognition that alcohol dysfunction and the tolerence of self harm is a vestege of colonialism that needs to be discarded for a healthy nation to develop.

We need to start to consider our own perceptions of Irish drinking, how they were formed and how they are sustained. We need to consider who really benefits from our government's protection of the status quo and who is harmed.

We need to start to take ownership of who we are.