The Irish are Europe's champion binge drinkers, putting even Briain's lager louts in the shade, according to a survey of all 27 EU nations released today.

Officials said it was pure coincidence that the results from the most extensive survey of EU drinking habits were released just before St Patrick’s Day, a traditional excuse for a glass or five.

Binge drinking – defined as imbibing five or more drinks at any one sitting – seems to be a northern European speciality.

The nations with the worst record are Ireland, followed by Finland, then Britain, Denmark and Sweden.

Asked how much they get through each time a bottle is opened or a pint pulled, the Irish confessed that 34 per cent of sessions involve at least five drinks. By the same measure, 27 per cent of Finns and 24 per cent of British drink to excess.

At the other end of the spectrum, the most responsible drinkers seem to come from southern Europe, with just 1 per cent of Bulgarians admitting to binge behaviour, followed by 2 per cent of both Italians and Greeks, and 4 per cent of Portuguese.

St Patrick’s Day on Saturday, the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, is actually more of a booze day, the findings by Eurobarometer suggest.

Earlier this year Ireland's Catholic bishops warned that alcohol abuse was damaging Irish society.

The survey also shows that almost eight out of 10 Europeans (77 per cent) agree with putting warnings on alcohol bottles and adverts to alert pregnant women and drivers of the dangers of drinking alcohol. France has introduced images on some bottles aimed particularly at pregnant women and Finland is considering similar measures.

Almost three quarters of Europeans (73 per cent) would agree to a lower blood alcohol limit for young and learner drivers.

Markos Kyprianou, the EU Health Commissioner, said: “I am deeply concerned about the data showing that one in five young Europeans regularly binge drink.

"It is clear from this survey that EU citizens support measures to protect specific groups in society, such as pregnant women, drivers and young people, from the harmful effects of alcohol abuse and misuse.”

The survey suggested that while increasing the price of alcohol by as much as a quarter would not deter the majority of drinkers, it did indicate that a price increase would encourage many younger people to drink less.

A total of 44 per cent of the youngest respondents believed they would buy less alcohol if it became substantially more expensive, but the majority of people doubted if the increased cost would be enough to deter most young people, or heavy drinkers in general. Sixty-two per cent said they would not buy fewer alcoholic drinks if the price went up by 25 percent.

It is estimated that alcohol abuse and misuse kills 195,000 people a year across the European Union. Harmful alcohol consumption is responsible for one in four deaths among young men aged 15-29.

The EC pollsters surveyed 25,000 people across Europe to compile the league table.

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