Playwright and screenwriter Nancy Harris has never been one to shy away from difficult conversations. Best known for her hit RTÉ drama The Dry, she has helped bring one of Irish life’s most painful realities to mainstream television. That reality is alcohol addiction in Ireland, and the tangle of family, identity and denial that surrounds it.

Now heading into its third season, The Dry has earned praise well beyond Irish shores. Yet for Harris, it was never really about international acclaim. It was about truth.

“The idea that Ireland is full of drinkers is a stereotype,” she has said. “But when a country has been given a stereotype, they might be the best people to look at it.” That willingness to face uncomfortable realities head-on is what makes the conversation around alcohol addiction in Ireland so overdue.

The Drinking Problem in Ireland Goes Beyond Stereotypes

The numbers are striking. According to the Healthy Ireland Survey 2025, 71% of people aged 15 or older in Ireland reported consuming alcohol in the past 12 months. That figure rises to 78% among men and 74% among women.

Binge drinking remains a serious concern. Some 26% of the Irish population are classified as binge drinkers on a typical occasion. That means consuming at least six standard units in a single sitting. Men are far more affected. Some 40% of men report binge drinking, compared with just 12% of women.

Looking at the broader picture, 24% of Ireland’s population engages in heavy episodic drinking at least once a month. The European average is 19%.

Alcohol is responsible for four deaths every day in Ireland. It is linked to dependence, liver disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The financial toll is equally sobering. The World Health Organisation estimates that alcohol harm costs Ireland around 2.5% of GDP each year. For 2024, that figure amounts to roughly €14 billion.

‘It’s a Problem All Over the World’

What The Dry does so well is reframe alcohol addiction in Ireland. It is not a quirky national failing. It is a deeply human struggle that people across the world recognise. Harris has been clear about this: “It’s a problem all over the world.”

The show follows Shiv, played by Róisín Gallagher, who returns to Dublin after achieving sobriety. She finds that the family she left behind has its own complicated relationship with drink. It is a portrait of how a drinking problem in Ireland is rarely just one person’s problem. It ripples outward, shaping relationships, silences and the stories families quietly tell themselves.

Harris has also spoken about the housing crisis. Many people in Ireland can no longer afford to leave home or live separately. That pressure, she has noted, adds new strain to already fragile households. External stress and alcohol use are rarely unconnected.

How Alcohol Addiction in Ireland Is Finally Changing

For much of the twentieth century, talking openly about a drinking problem in Ireland was close to impossible. The Catholic Church’s influence, the pub’s place at the centre of social life, and a habit of brushing things off all helped keep alcohol dependency hidden.

That is changing. Harris has noted that Ireland is “way more open to looking at itself than it gives itself any credit for.” The Public Health (Alcohol) Act, passed in 2018, marked a genuine turning point. Since then, alcohol consumption per capita has fallen by more than 14%. That is real progress. Even so, Ireland’s per capita consumption in 2024 stood at 9.43 litres of pure alcohol. That is still nearly 5% above the government’s own reduction target.

The demand for treatment is also rising sharply. In England, 329,646 adults were in contact with drug and alcohol treatment services between April 2024 and March 2025. That is the highest number on record. People seeking help for alcohol alone made up 30% of all adults in treatment.

What The Dry Gets Right About the Drinking Problem in Ireland

Harris refuses to make addiction a morality tale. There are no easy villains. There are no tidy recoveries. The drinking problem in Ireland, as shown in The Dry, is messy, funny and heartbreaking all at once. That combination is what makes it so recognisable.

By the third season, the show moves beyond its opening premise of sobriety. It explores, as Harris puts it, “the permutations of addiction.” That is an important shift. Alcohol addiction in Ireland cannot be separated from the wider pressures of modern life. Financial anxiety, fractured family structures, loneliness and unspoken grief all play a part.

For families living alongside a loved one’s drinking problem, the show offers something rare on screen. It offers the feeling of being seen.

Why Telling These Stories Matters

Art opens doors that statistics cannot. Harris’s work on The Dry has brought alcohol addiction in Ireland into living rooms in a way that health reports rarely manage. When people see their own experiences on screen, told with complexity and without judgment, it becomes easier to speak honestly about what is happening at home.

That honesty is where change begins. For anyone who recognises the signs of a drinking problem in Ireland, whether in themselves or someone they love, reaching out for support is the most important step. Services are available. No one should have to face addiction alone.

Season 3 of The Dry airs on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

Source: dbrecoveryresources