New research from Northumbria University suggests that Irish people feel compelled to drink alcohol to celebrate St Patrick’s Day – whether they want to or not .

Marketing lecturer, Matthew Kearney, from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, asked a sample of 70 Irish women and men in their 20s and 30s, to keep shopping diaries and analyse their feelings about their spending. He then conducted in-depth interviews with a third of those who took part. Each participant said they celebrated St Patrick’s Day. Some who had not anticipated celebrating felt compelled, due to mockery and cajoling from Irish friends, to spend considerable amounts of money on the day. One woman recalled spending £350 and many reported reaching credit card limits and borrowing from friends and family to support the celebrations. Participants who spent the day outside Ireland recalled being pressured to join in the celebrations by their English counterparts

Participants who declared themselves as teetotal the rest of the year also mentioned  feeling obliged to drink alcohol to celebrate St Patrick’s – a day when it is estimated that more than 13,000,000 pints of Guinness will be consumed around the world. Kearney explained: “Alcohol consumption, when placed in the context of Ireland becomes instantly romanticised, attributed to one’s underlying Celtic soul” and many Irish people regard drinking on the day as patriotic.

Kearney elaborates “many of the people who took part in the research seemed to feel an inescapable pressure to drink as part of Irish culture and heritage. When this is combined with the expectations of others, created by the concerted efforts of marketeers, the result appears inevitable”. He continues, “many of those I interviewed expressed extreme regret in the aftermath of the day while others demonstrated a learned helplessness towards stopping drinking on the day. There seems to be a perception that it’s their duty”.