Irish drink 82.8 million litres of wine in one year

  THE Irish love affair with wine continues as new figures show we drank more than nine million cases of the drink last year.

  Sales of wine in Ireland are continuing to increase, according to figures released from the Revenue Commissioners.

  A total of 9.2 million cases of wine were imported into Ireland last year, an increase of 7.2pc on the previous year.

  This means that the Irish drank a staggering equivalent of 82.8 million litres of wine last year. These figures come on the back of new statistics which show an alarming rise in alcoholic liver disease among people in their 30s.

  The statistics show that almost 600 cases of liver disease in people in their 30s were recorded in hospitals around the country in just five years.

  And figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) indicated a sharp rise in the number of cases involving women.

  Cirrhosis of the liver is a condition traditionally only found in older patients after long-term alcohol abuse.