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This review examines Ireland's foreign relations in 2020. It sets out the particular challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and outlines the evolving domestic political landscape, including the election in February 2020 that led to the historic first coalition involving both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The review then gives an account of Ireland's relations with the EU, the UK and the USA, with Brexit representing a recurrent theme across all three relationships. Ireland's engagement beyond Europe and North America is addressed, including its successful election to the UN Security Council and its foreign military deployments. Finally, the deaths of a number of significant figures in Irish and international politics are noted.

A poll conducted for the Irish Anti-Apartheid Campaign for Palestine, published in January, indicated that 71 percent of respondents considered that the term \"apartheid\" applied to \"the situation facing Palestinians\" Another 62 percent thought that sanctions such as those adopted against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine should now be applied to Israel. Here, Gee talks about solidarity with Palestine in Europe and Singapore, including protests, government actions, and public opinion.

In 2012, the Irish Department of Health published a strategy in relation to alcohol and flagged that a Public Health (Alcohol) Act would be pursued through the Houses of the Oireachtas. This Public Health (Alcohol) Act was intended to reduce alcohol consumption and the harms caused by the misuse of alcohol. The act includes various means for this purpose, including introducing statutory minimum prices on alcohol, restricting alcohol advertising, addition of warning labels to alcohol products, and reducing the visibility of alcohol products in retail outlets. This perspective piece aims to provide an account of how this public health alcohol policy has been implemented in Ireland. The strategy relied in a major way on the World Health Organisation framework for alcohol policy. It took 3 years from the launch of that strategy to get the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill published, in December 2015. It took almost another 3 years to get the Public Health (Alcohol) Act passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas, in October 2018. The Act was signed into law by the President of Ireland in November 2018, and it’s implementation has commenced in the last few years. This perspective piece highlights the complexities and challenges of implementing legislation related to public health policy, but also demonstrates that real action can occur with advocacy from public health clinicians and key stakeholders.

Ireland has become the fourth heaviest drinking nation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of quantity of alcohol consumed,1 and ranked joint third for binge drinking in an analysis of 194 nations by WHO.2 Irish adults consume on average 11·5 L of pure alcohol per person every year, an increase of more than 100% compared with 60 years ago.3 Most alcohol in Ireland is now consumed at home and alcohol retailing off licences have increased by five-fold since 1990.4,5 Despite high alcohol taxes and duties, cheap alcohol is sold in many more outlets.4 Drinking under the legal age is a problem in Ireland. 46% of young people have consumed alcohol by the age of 15 years.6 Binge drinking is also a cause for concern-almost two-thirds of people aged 18-24 years in Ireland consume six or more standard drinks on a typical drinking session.5,7 In adults, more than half of individuals who drink alcohol do so in a harmful or hazardous way, as defined by current low-risk weekly limits in Ireland of 17 standard drinks for a man and 11 for a woman.5 Almost 200 000 people are dependent on alcohol and most alcohol in Ireland is consumed as part of a binge.5 Hospital discharges for liver disease in Ireland increased three-fold between 1995 and 2013.8 Deaths from liver disease almost tripled between 1990 and 2007.9 Alcohol causes an estimated three deaths each day and more than 1000 deaths per year in Ireland.8 €1 in €10 spent in the health services in Ireland is as a result of alcohol use.8 It's unsustainable from every point of view.Liver specialists raised the alarm in 2012 and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland joined Alcohol Action Ireland and formed the umbrella organisation Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland to amplify advocacy and increase public support for action to reduce alcohol health harm.10 Government, through the Department of Health and Health Service Executive, has not stood still and produced a national substance misuse strategy in 2012 with local task forces set up in 2013.11 The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill was published by the then Minister for Health, now Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar on Dec 9, 2015 (panel).12 This Bill classifies alcohol consumption as a public health issue for the first time.13 The passage of the Bill has been delayed for almost 2 years.Since the Bill was published in December, 2015, about 2000 individuals are estimated to have died as a result of alcohol.