A glass of stout / lager / cider, a small glass of wine or a pub measure of spirits is equal to one standard drink, and one standard drink takes one hour to leave your system; this is the key message this Christmas from MEAS, the alcohol responsibility organisation behind drinkaware.ie.

“We want to help Christmas revellers to make responsible decisions about their drinking. We have found that many people are unaware of what is a standard drink and the period of time it takes our bodies to eliminate it. There are lots of myths out there about cures and soakage strategies. The only cure is time and it takes on average one hour to get rid of one standard drink. It is really important for motorists to be aware of this, especially the morning after a night out” commented MEAS Chief Executive, Fionnuala Sheehan. 

One million ‘drinkaware’ information cards in English, Irish and Polish have been produced to support the recently launched drinkaware.ie/Road Safety Authority Anti Drink Driving Campaign which focuses on the dangers of ‘Morning After’ driving.

“The handy, ‘ATM’ sized information card details what a standard drink is, how long it takes your body to get rid of it, as well as providing space to write down that all important taxi / hackney number”, added Ms. Sheehan. 

The drinkaware cards are being distributed through An Garda Siochana and the large number of organisations and companies supporting the campaign.

Topaz Energy, the company which owns the licences for the Shell and Statoil brands in Ireland, is distributing the drinkaware information cards through its retail network nationwide. Commenting on the initiative, Frank Gleeson, Retail Director, said: “We are delighted to add our support to drinkaware.ie’s innovative and responsible campaign.  The safety of all road users this Christmas is of great concern to us at Topaz Energy, and we are encouraging everyone within our network to promote the cards to customers and colleagues alike.”