Women earning more than €35k annually are most at risk for babies having fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

She said it is accepted there are difficulties with alcohol consumption in Ireland, mainly among men but also for women to a lesser degree.

“Ireland has the third highest rate of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the world,” she told the Irish Medical Organisation’s annual general meeting in Killarney.

Evidence indicates, she said, during 2021 some 526 clearly affected babies were born, adding that "there would be a further 2,700 babies born” whose difficulties only become apparent with time.

Prevention of FASD is “a huge challenge”, she said.

“When you look at public health risk assessments, the people who are most at risk of having a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder are professional women who earn more than €35,000 per annum because they have enough disposable income to have alcohol in the house,” she said.

“And after that then you’d have third-level students and lower socio-economic groups because they tend to binge drink.” 

In her work with the HSE, she said: “I’ve learned it’s not a woman’s problem, it’s an alcohol problem. And the sooner we recognize it as an alcohol problem, the sooner we might be able to do something about it.” 

She added: “Based on the best evidence they reckon that 4.75% of all our children are actually being born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. And the 95% confidence interval is 2.8% and 7.3% so we could actually have nearly 7% or so of our babies being born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.” 

Ireland’s drinking culture is so pervasive many people do not realise there is no safe level of alcohol during pregnancy, she warned.

FASD is an umbrella term for conditions which can be caused by drinking alcohol while pregnant.

Alcohol is carried by the mother’s blood and passes to the baby through the umbilical cord.

“It is very stigmatizing, it is shaming, there is a real guilt for birth mothers if the child is born with FASD,” she said.

“The space, looking at research into FASD, is dominated by adoptive and foster parents and by the clinicians and the researchers that work with them over the years. You don’t see any birth parents at these conferences.” 

She was critical of this, saying: “The birth mother not alcohol is the main focus of blame.” 

The IMO is one of dozens of health and community organisations who have written to the Government calling for assessment of the implications of increasing alcohol availability.

They want to see a health impact assessment carried out by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee before enacting the Sale of Alcohol Bill.