27 February 2008

This year’s conference theme, “Working Together to Reduce Alcohol Related Harm”, echoes the theme of MEAS’s first conference, held in September, 2003, which was entitled“Alcohol Issues - A Partnership Approach”. Considerable progress has been made in the intervening period to address the harms caused by alcohol misuse through the partnership model, both at an Irish and a European level,  and much remains to be done.

This conference provides an opportunity to learn from respected experts operating in the Irish and European contexts about developments in alcohol strategy and the implementation of initiatives designed to tackle alcohol misuse through a partnership model. 

These are some of the questions to be addressed at this conference:

• Why adopt a partnership approach to reduce the harms caused by alcohol misuse?
• What initiatives are supported by stakeholders through partnership in the Irish and in the European contexts and what is the status and expected outcomes of these initiatives?
• Why do some stakeholders attack the partnership approach?
• Are there inherent risks in adopting the partnership approach and if so what are these?
• What are the limitations of the partnership model?
• Are there examples of good practice in Ireland that can be extended or expanded?
• Are there examples of good practice which can be replicated in the Irish context?
• Can lessons be learnt from other sectors?

The conference aims to:

• Promote an awareness of the partnership approach to reduce alcohol related harm
• Bring an international perspective to bear on the issue of alcohol in Ireland – and  developments in the Irish and international contexts to tackle the harms caused by alcohol misuse through  partnership
• Encourage informed debate on measures and initiatives to reduce alcohol related harm through stakeholder partnerships, and
• Identify key areas for further debate, analysis, policy, and initiative development.