The new justice minister is far too intelligent to seriously believe that changing the hours that off-licences open is going to do anything to impact on what is undoubtedly our national drink problem.

Shorter opening hours are not going to stop the 16-year-old who wants to get trolleyed every weekend (although actually enforcing stiff penalties on retailers who sell to those underage might help), or reduce the drink-induced carnage on the streets of every town in the country in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Nor will limiting the number of outlets that sell alcohol. The National Off-Licence Association . . . surprise, surprise . . . has claimed that the changes in licensing laws a few years ago to allow non-specialist shops, such as convenience stores, to sell alcohol has led to the current situation.

Utter nonsense, of course. The association's call, meanwhile, for a reinstatement of the ban on below-cost selling on alcohol as a way of reducing alcohol abuse should be filed away under the 'well, they would say that, wouldn't they' category.

Anyone who has holidayed in southern Europe in countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain can testify that alcohol is available in every convenience store at pretty much every hour of the day. It is also considerably cheaper . . . a bottle of wine can cost as little as 2 . . . yet you don't see widespread levels of public drunkenness in those countries.

There is a whole different attitude to alcohol in those countries. In general, alcohol is respected and enjoyed in moderation. The object is not to knock back six pints of beer and a couple of chasers between 9pm and 1am at the weekend, but to enjoy alcohol, particularly as an accompaniment to food.

It's a cultural difference and any efforts to tackle our country's drink problem without changing the way we, as a nation, view drink are doomed to failure. It would be naive to think that McDowell's cafe bars proposal was any kind of panacea, but it was a step in the right direction towards changing our drink culture and moving away from drinking as a leisure activity.

The vintners predictably slammed the proposal as illogical. "It is most unlikely that people will eat more and drink less because a premises is called a cafe bar rather than a public bar, " claimed one spokesman. Except that's precisely what would have happened.

McDowell's plan was killed off after FF TDs rebelled against it amid intense lobbying from the vintners, still a powerful vested interest. To be fair, some of those in Fianna Fail who opposed it did so because they genuinely feared it would lead to an increase in drinking. They were backed up by people in the medical profession.

However, the evidence from across Europe suggests that prohibition tactics have little or no impact on drinking levels.

In northern Europe, where the sale of alcohol is generally more restrictive, there seems to be a much greater problem with excessive drinking and resulting antisocial behaviour than in southern Europe, where alcohol is considerably cheaper and much more easily accessible.

Of course, talking about changing our drinking culture is easy, but actually getting results is going to be hugely difficult.

Excessive drinking has become almost a rite of passage for many of our teenagers.

It's hard to believe that any advertising campaign telling them that it is not 'cool' to end up in a heap, covered in vomit, on a street is going to have any impact. Particularly when they see how the wider population treats alcohol.

But certainly there are things that the government . . . and we, as a society . . . can do.

The promotion of alcohol through advertising and sponsorship should certainly be looked at. The idea that one of the premier sporting tournaments in the country . . .the All-Ireland Hurling Championship . . .should be sponsored by a drinks company should simply not be tolerated.

Former Kerry manager Jack O'Connor referred to this issue in his column in the Irish Times last week, quite correctly stating that it "gives the wrong message."

O'Connor also said that everyone in the GAA had a responsibility to show young players that there are alternative ways of enjoying themselves, celebrating victories or getting over disappointments.

"These things don't always have to involve drinking to excess. In the GAA, we have a famine-and-feast approach to drink.

Teams will lay off the drink for weeks in the lead-up to big games and then cut loose for a few daysf It would be more sensible for players to drink moderately through the season. It's not the use of drink that is the problem, it is the abuse."

These eminently sensible words from O'Connor can just as easily be applied to the wider community.

Contradictions in our attitudes to alcohol are part of the problem. We live in a society that won't legislate for cafe bars, yet doesn't stigmatise wanton drunkenness in public. We wring our hands about underage drinking, yet happily recount our own tales of excess. We talk about restricting the availability of alcohol, yet won't enforce existing laws about selling alcohol to minors.

Perhaps the only clear thing is that this deeply ingrained problem will require imaginative and carefully thought-out solutions . . . solutions a lot more imaginative and better thought-out than restricting opening hours of off-licences and pubs.