These findings are extracts from the European study ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs -other), published Tuesday in Lisbon by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), conducted in 2015 among 15-16 year olds.
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The same was true for cigarette use during the last 30 days, which stood at 13 per cent among Irish respondents, compared with the European average of 21 per cent.
Ireland also was among the group of countries with the highest use of new psychoactive substances among secondary school students. It is slightly higher among girls (62.1%) than boys (59.4%) and among students of vocational courses (66.2%) and general (58.4%).
The ESPAD report also said more than one in 10 Irish teenagers gambled for money frequently.
Responding to the study, Alcohol Action Ireland said it welcomed some of the trends in alcohol consumption among Irish teenagers but said alcohol should not be a part of any 15- or 16-year-old’s life.
Espad says that United Kingdom data shows that online gaming has risen from 31% of teenagers in 2007 to 44% in 2015: “Research on factors associated with gaming indicates that early onset, opposite-sex friends, and minimal parental mediation increase the risk for gaming”.
The European School Survey Project warned that the school/class participation rates in Ireland of 18% were exceptionally low.
The report also says children use the internet on average six days a week and the development of patterns of addictive use among children and adolescents needs to be closely monitored and investigated.
It said that despite strict regulations on tobacco and alcohol, adolescents still report relatively easy access.
More boys smoke cigarettes than girls but the overall numbers are down.
Junior health minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy said the figures on under age drinking are very worrying. Across the European Union, 52 per cent of boys and 43 per cent of girls admitted to having had alcohol before the age of 13.
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“Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to alcohol-related harms and risks, as their bodies and brains are still developing – while the younger a child starts to drink alcohol the more likely it is they will develop problems with alcohol misuse in the future”, he said.
