A storm in a Sangria glass

It’s a shocking story. Two British parents get very drunk in charge of their three children on the first day of their holiday in Portugal – and end up paraded through the European media as an ‘example’ of parental fecklessness on a grand scale. I cannot be the only parent to have contracted the jitters from this. Is there no refuge from the dictates of Totally Responsible Parenting Behaviour – even when you spend hundreds of pounds on a family holiday in the sun?

The facts, such as they are known, are these. Eamon and Antoinette McGuckin, from Northern Ireland, allegedly collapsed in a ‘drunken stupor’ in front of their three young children at their Algarve hotel in the early hours of Saturday morning. The couple were taken to hospital and their children to a children’s refuge overnight. Accusations and denials are running thick and fast, with the Portuguese authorities considering charging Mum and Dad with abandonment and negligence, while Mum is demanding blood tests after claiming that she only drank three lagers.

The facts of this bizarre case are far from clear. One obvious question, though, is how has the story so quickly reached the Portuguese and British media? It cannot be a coincidence that this latest fable on parents behaving badly has cropped up on the anniversary of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, and the degrading, parent-bashing circus that ensued. While the jury may still be out on the question of whether it is OK for a middle-class couple to leave their kids asleep in a room while they go out for dinner and a glass of wine, getting paralytic in front of your children (on lager!!) makes for an easy moral outrage. So the McGuckins quickly cease to become people, and are held up as photo-fit examples of how British parents quite typically behave on holiday – uncivilised binge-drinkers who put their kids at risk.

I find this view far more sickening than anything the McGuckins might have drunk on their first day in Portugal. Parents are quite entitled to enjoy themselves on holiday, and drink something a little stronger than lemonade. And parents should be allowed to make mistakes. If you get too drunk in a hotel bar, you should be able to rely on people to help you out: not to send in the authorities and splash your humiliation across the international media. It’s enough to make the back garden look attractive as a holiday destination.

By Jennie Bristow

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