Bishop Nulty calls for ‘re-imagining’ of Pledge to include drugs use

Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare & Leighlin has called for a “re-imagining” of the Pledge to reflect the dangers posed to Irish youth from sports enhancing drugs in addition to alcohol.

Addressing members of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart during their annual pilgrimage to Knock, Bishop Nulty referred to Ireland’s continuing problematic relationship with alcohol and added that the growing number of young people using sports enhancing drugs could not be ignored.

“They may not drink,” he pointed out, “but these drugs are doing irrefutable and irreparable damage to the development of their young bodies.”

Urging a “re-imagining” of the Pledge “so that young people can be reassured that as cool as they may think it is to drink, it’s also cool, in fact very cool not to imbibe”, he added that “our Pledge must speak to these drugs as much as it speaks to the horrors of underage drinking.”