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National Community Assembly on Alcohol Harms – Specific Challenge Zones on Alcohol Harms Faced by Communities Across Ireland

Proposal for a National Conference/Assembly on Alcohol Harms

The Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network (ICAAN) wish to hold a National Conference/Assembly (we believe in calling it an ‘Assembly’ as opposed to a ‘Conference’ as it is more reflective of the communities participation and contribution to this event) on Alcohol Harms in the Community. To address rapidly evolving alcohol-related risks and strengthen implementation of public health protections. This Assembly will bring together relevant elected members of the Oireachtas, Department of Health, Public Health, researchers, digital platform representatives, educators, community organisations, and people with lived and living experience. The focus will be practical: co-creating enforceable, evidence-informed solutions across priority risk areas.

The Assembly will centre on six specific ‘Challenge Zones’ (tbc):

  1. Drink Deliveries – Examining rapid and late-night delivery models, age verification failures, data gaps, and links to acute harm, with a focus on regulatory reform and compliance innovation.
  2. No/Low Alcohol Advertising – Addressing brand stretching and cross-promotion practices that may normalise alcohol consumption and indirectly promote full-strength products.
  3. Unregulated Influencer Advertising – Developing transparency standards, platform accountability mechanisms, and monitoring systems to prevent covert digital marketing.
  4. Youth Exposure and Early Initiation – Reducing exposure across sport sponsorship, digital media, retail environments, and community settings to delay uptake and reduce risky consumption.
  5. Alcohol-Related Violence and Community Safety – Strengthening coordinated responses to family violence, sexual assault, public disorder, and late-night economy harms through cross-sector collaboration.
  6. Breaches of the Public Health Alcohol Act – Improving reporting pathways, enforcement capacity, penalties, and public transparency to ensure the Act achieves its intended impact.

The Conference/Assembly is intended to be 100% interactive. Using facilitated design labs, policy sprints, and mixed-sector working groups, attendees will co-create actionable solutions/recommendations. These findings will then be presented to the relevant Government Departments.