A new report from the Health Service Executive says that over one in four Irish people have experienced harm due to someone else's drinking.

The Alcohol's Harm to Others in Ireland report examined alcohol harm to people other than the drinker.

The report found that 28% of the population reported having negative experiences because of other people's drinking.

These included family problems, being a passenger with a drunk driver, assault, having property vandalised and money problems.

Children are also badly affected. One in ten parents or guardians reported children experiencing verbal abuse, being left in unsafe situations, witnessing violence in the home and suffering physical abuse over the last year.

Parents themselves who drank were most likely to report these harms.

One in ten workers suffered problems due to co-workers being heavy drinkers.

It affected their ability to do their work, caused them to work extra hours and led to accidents at work.

Co-author of the report Professor Joe Barry said society suffers from alcohol abuse.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Edition, he said: "About half of all homicides are thought to be due to alcohol."

He said that drink in the home can cause a lot of male violence against women and he said that witnessing domestic violence is traumatic for children.

A new public health alcohol bill will introduce minimum unit pricing and reduce availability of alcohol, he said.

Prof Barry said he believed that people wanted to see changes in legislation.