An examination of patterns of alcohol consumption among adults in Ireland in 2025
We were thrilled to host our 14th Research Briefing event on 26th November 2025 at which John O’Mahony, IPSOS B&A gave the keynote presentation focusing on key findings from our latest Barometer survey. The Drinkaware Barometer is a national population-based survey of 1,000 adults aged 18+ conducted by IPSOS B&A on an annual basis and includes a series of internationally recognised modules relating to alcohol consumption and mental health. Collectively, extensive data gathered since the commencement of the Barometer series in 2017 allows for an annual examination of drinking practices over time and how they relate to other practices within daily life, including key patterns and trends within the data. Having data over the course of various time points also provides crucial tangible action points which the country can act on. It is important in terms of listening and responding to what adults want and need in terms of alcohol information, which is at the core of our work: aiming to prevent and reduce the misuse of alcohol. We are thoroughly proud of working with IPSOS B&A on this body of work over 10 time points to date. John O’Mahony carefully took the 20+ stakeholders from across a range of disciplines and backgrounds who attended (virtually) on a fascinating and extremely insightful journey, plotting out the key findings from this survey for 2025.
This event also allowed the opportunity to discuss key findings further with Research and Impacts Manager, Dr Ann Stokes, some of which are highlighted here. Firstly, the changing dynamic in the Barometer series that we are seeing – the norm around adults drinking, how and where drinking is taking place, but also the growing acceptance of drinking at home and home alone. Home is confirmed as the primary drinking context in Barometer 2025, with home alone drinking (31%) and small non-mealtime drinks at home (30%) leading. Alongside this, there may be potentially worrying practices taking place. We published a research paper specifically focusing on the rise of home drinking among adults in Ireland earlier this year. Ultimately, there are potential dangers associated with at home drinking, where adults may not understand how much they are drinking in the first place. If this is happening in the home, it may lead to a situation where an adult may be drinking more than they thought or indeed set out to do. This could then result in potentially harmful drinking and, in turn, a negative impact on health and wellbeing. 27% of adults report being aware of the HSE Low-Risk Weekly Guidelines prior to Barometer 2025, but there is almost no understanding of what they are – only 2% of adults correctly identified the HSE Low-Risk Weekly Guidelines: 2% for men and 3% for women.
At the same time, John also talked about the potentials as part of his presentation – with a developing acceptance and value of sober options and spaces examined further in Barometer 2025. We found that many adults do want to have opportunities to drink less but still don’t feel fully supported or accepted in doing so. For instance, only 55% think non-drinking is socially accepted, and just half who want to cut back feel supported. Most rate the availability of sober events/spaces as poor, with 4 in 10 adults saying more and better options, especially late-night coffee bars and alcohol-free menus, would. Our 2025 Barometer shows that there is an appetite and demand there, particularly for a young adult focus. We undertook a body of qualitative research earlier this year, and this gives a detailed insight into the real-life experiences of a sample of 18–34-year-olds, with the voices of young adults’ themselves being core.
Each year, alongside core content on alcohol consumption patterns, we carefully consider the scope for additional questions focusing on a specific area, while taking into consideration the context. For instance, as part of planning for this year’s Barometer, we decided to add a new question on self-selected drinker type. This came from the mismatch that we previously saw, where self-understanding of terms such as binge drinking was found to be high, while high rates of binge drinking were also identified. Our new question in 2025 was really about trying to understand how adults identify themselves, and how then did that tie in or not, in terms of how much they say and are drinking. Of those who would like to drink less often, only 11% consider themselves party starters; they are more likely to consider themselves Personal Time Drinkers (28%). This suggests a desire for more controlled drinking habits. Young adults over index as Party Starters. It is important to note that overall, there remains a persist binge pattern, with a slight decline this year (24%) but it is still there. Latest Healthy Ireland data found that 26% of the population are binge drinkers on a typical drinking occasion (i.e. drink at least standard 6 drinks).
Collectively, our quantitative and qualitative data is crucial to informing the information, messaging and campaigns that we will be working on at Drinkaware over the next couple of months in contributing towards reducing harmful drinking practices. The Barometer series is extremely valuable to us, and one area that we want to look at further, and which John spoke about as part of his presentation, is men. Weekly incidence of alcohol consumption continues to be much higher among males in 2025 (64% vs 48% females). Men also continue to report higher levels of typical binge drinking (29%) than women (18%). Healthy Ireland 2025 also found a higher proportion of men drink alcohol across all frequency levels compared with women. We would like to undertake a body of qualitative research early next year focusing specifically on men aged 40-55 years, and we hope to be able to share our findings at a later date, such as at a research briefing like this.
If you are working on a piece of research that is alcohol-related, please get in contact with us, as the Research Briefing Series provides an opportunity and a platform for anyone working in this space to share their research and we would love to hear from you. We look forward to facilitating further debate on alcohol and behavioural change by hosting our next research briefing in 2026 and in so doing, contribute to sharing learnings and knowledge. If you would like to be added to our invite list, please email research@drinkaware.ie. We also encourage you to look at the section dedicated to our Research Briefing Series on our website to which any outputs from this and all previous events are added and freely accessible. Please note that the views expressed in our Research Briefing Series are those of the speakers, based on their work in research and other disciplines.