Survey of West of Ireland teens finds 30 percent report being drunk in last month

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A new survey of teenagers in the West of Ireland has found parents are more likely to tolerate underage drinking than smoking.

The latest Planet Youth survey asked 15 and 16 year olds about their experiences with alcohol, cigarettes and cannabis.

The study took in the views of more than 4300 secondary school pupils across 91 schools in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, during November of last year.

Planet Youth Coordinator for the West of Ireland, Emmet Major, says it also found 30 per cent said they had been drunk in the last month:

"Broadly speaking, their parents are dead set against them smoking, or vaping, or cannabis use - well over 95% in most cases."

"But when we see this for substance use it's dropped from 70 to 60 to down to 50 percent now. So wherever we see this in the survey, this parental tolerance for alcohol use is creeping in, the kids are drinking more."