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	The Archbishop of Dublin has warned that Ireland&#39;s pervasive culture of drink must be &quot;confronted and challenged&quot;, as he called on sporting bodies to seek alternative sources of sponsorship to the drinks industry.</h2>
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		Diarmuid&nbsp;<a href="http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Diarmuid_Martin" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; color: rgb(92, 139, 63); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Martin</a>&nbsp;was speaking after a Mass to close a two-day international conference on addiction hosted by the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.</p>
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		The Catholic prelate urged Irish society to address &quot;the commercialisation of drink&quot; and even the way &quot;people talk about drinking &ndash; almost as if to normalise it&quot;.</p>
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		He urged the Government to do more to support addiction treatment programmes which he described as &quot;vital&quot; but he said society in general needed to be much more involved too.</p>
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		It came as the first letter from Pope Francis to an Irish-based organisation arrived in time for the Pioneer&#39;s conference at All Hallow&#39;s College in Dublin.</p>
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		In it the Pontiff congratulated the Pioneers on their 115 years, &quot;through which countless people have been assisted in living full lives without dependence on alcohol or drugs&quot;.</p>
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		Meanwhile, Fr Peter McVerry told the 200 delegates that of the &euro;3m needed to run his three addiction treatment programmes, only &euro;190,000 was grant aided from the State. The rest had to be fundraised.</p>
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		&quot;I think that reflects the low priority that drug issues have in our society and with the Government,&quot; he said.</p>
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		&quot;We have probably 20,000 heroin users in Ireland today and we have just 28 beds in detox treatment programmes &ndash; that is a disgrace,&quot; Fr McVerry said.</p>
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		Archbishop Martin meanwhile has also defended the&nbsp;<a href="http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Mater_Public_Hospital,_Dublin" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; color: rgb(92, 139, 63); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Mater Hospital</a>&#39;s pro life record saying it had been &#39;scrupulous&#39; in trying to defend both the life of mother and the unborn child.</p>
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		The Archbishop was also asked about the decision by the Mater, a Catholic Voluntary Hospital, to comply with the terms of the Protection of&nbsp;<a href="http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Life_(show)" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; color: rgb(92, 139, 63); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Life</a>During Pregnancy Act.</p>
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		He said that though he was president of the hospital he had no powers in the governance of the hospital. And he paid tribute to the Mater hospital&#39;s &quot;great tradition of caring for very difficult pregnancies and doing it well within the ethos of the hospital over years&quot;.</p>
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		&quot;There have been extremely complicated (pregnancies) and I know that they are scrupulous in the policy of trying to defend both the life of the mother and the unborn child. I hope that that continues,&quot; he said.</p>
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		He said he would be seeking further clarifications on the exact meaning of the hospital&#39;s statement last week.</p>
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		<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/martin-joins-call-to-cut-alcohol-links-to-sport-29620350.html">www.independent.ie/irish-news/martin-joins-call-to-cut-alcohol-links-to-sport-29620350.html</a></p>
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