The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has joined the calls for sporting bodies to seek alternative sources of sponsorship to the drinks industry.
He was speaking after a mass to close a two-day international conference on addiction hosted by the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.
Martin urged Irish society to address "the commercialisation of drink" and even the way "people talk about drinking – almost as if to normalise it".
He urged the Government to do more to support addiction treatment programmes which he described as "vital" but he said society in general needed to be much more involved too.
The Government's Cabinet Sub-Committee on Social Policy agreed in principle during the summer that it would be good to ban alcohol sponsorship of sport.
Minister of State for Health Alex White has presented proposals to Government to ban all alcohol sponsorship in sports by 2020.
However, Minister for Sport Leo Varadkar and Minister for Arts and Culture Jimmy Deenihan have not agreed a date for implementation, arguing that the ban should not go ahead until alternative funding is identified to compensate organisations for the loss of revenue.
Sports event sponsorship by alcohol companies is estimated to be worth €20 million annually.
