Love that the only fruit or veg included in the offer is a cabbage!!

My kids drink rum out of the children’s allowance… I find it helps them sleep a lot longer than lager.

Half price Bacon with a free cabbage…. daecent deal dere doh

Its only miller and bumwidener I would not even class that as beer, American piss water

if the Children’s Allowance is given in money, then people can – and will – spend it any way they want. To think that it should only be spent on children’s clothes and food is as absurd as saying that a new tax “funds local services”. We all know that it all goes into a big pot, and so it should, otherwise rich areas would have better services than poor ones.

If the State or the people quoted in this article wants to ensure that an allowance is spent on something specific, they should not give it in cash but in kind, or at least in restricted-use vouchers with names printed on them.

First World Problems

just to let some of you know. children’s allowance is paid to ALL parents regardless of been single married working or on welfare. and NOT all parents spend it on fags booze or nights out. some people actually spend it for their children. or items that’s needed for kids.

If only I had a child… I would be compelled to spend their allowance on this offer…

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I didn’t even realise it was Children’s Allowance day. I haven’t had sight of the childrens allowance for years. Its either paid for necessities, loans, or like now, our mortgage. I’d love to be able to buy bacon, and cabbage etc. I know of one such pub in Limerick City who openly advertise ‘dickie day’ music tonight, and its been like that for years. If there’s a demand, or a possibility of businesses making money, do people honestly think they won’t?! Moral, or not…..seriously…

These leaflets are simply run off with the latest Paddy’s Day/Easter/Euro2012/Barbeque motif plastered all over them, as of the day. No thought to the content of what’s actually on offer IMO.

Ohhhh the shock of it all. I demand to know how long people have been spending state money on fags and booze. Its a disgrace so tis. Hanging isnt good enough for em.

Giving a discount means people have more money left over to spend on the kids

Miller and Budweiser are hardly beer.

clever advertising , now the whole counrty knows that the two shops are doing cheap beer , if it was the beer only on the flyer , that would be irresponcible, but its at the bottom of the second page which leads me to believe it was added to fill up space , no? either or , no such thing as bad advertisment

Retail Excellence Ireland’s David Fitzsimons is a happykiller. Does he drink we cant think responsibly.

.. ..and the ‘Elephant in the Room’ award goes to Centra for reminding our government that not all the Children’s Allowance is spent in raising our kids. Watch out for a healthy slice of that particular welfare pie being consumed in the next round of Budget cuts. Enjoy your beer.

I think we’re looking at mountain being made out of a mole hill here. Clearly the flyer focusses on food and at the very end they put in their beer offers because that is what their customer expects. Remember that it is neither cost-effective or environmentally friendly to print an extra flyer with this week’s beer offers.
I’m not agreeing that the beer offers in the same flyer was a great idea but I know these two stores very well and they are both efficiently run, offer great prices, products you need and friendly customer service (esp in the boom times when everyone else didn’t care!) and I am sure that they didn’t mean to offend anyone.
Finally, having grown up in the retail business and cashed many social welfare cheques in exchange for cigarettes and lottery tickets, I’m sure the bacon and cabbage deals are wasted on some!

Just because the beer is advertised doesn’t mean it has to be bought with children’s allowance or any other money. The onus is on the purchaser surely…?

Tacky? Yes, illegal? No! Poor taste? Definitely! However some ‘parents’ will always spend this money on drink whilst children go hungry & yes I remember when butter vouchers were used for anything but butter! However I for one am glad I’m not in work tonight as town is always mad on the 1st Tuesday of the month & it’s mostly young women out on the town getting legless so I think the politicians should concentrate on that aspect more than an easy scapegoat. As for Senator Power… Well she & hers had ample opportunity over the years to address this issue but didn’t bother so it’s a bit rich jumping on the bandwagon now.

I”m shocked. Shocked at the lack of imagination used by the advertising copywriter – “Children’s Allowance Day Specials”? Yawn. Why not something more catchy like: “Mickey Money Madness!”. Seriously, a lot of the faux outrage over this is a bit hard to take. The idea that the money should *only* be spent on something for children is nonsense. The Children’s Allowance is a handy source of additional income for lots of hard-pressed families who use it to pay bills, groceries, clothes or whatever – and, yes, a few drinks as well. So what? They deserve it. Bringing up children is not easy and if the CA permits the parents a few little luxuries then so be it. Go direct your outrage at those who really merit it.

The only thing I would approve of children’s allowance being spent on are condoms.

There unfortunately seems to be a market for it. The child allowance should be directly linked the childs attendance at school. That will, at least, give the the kids some chance of breaking the cycle.

Not to defend Centra, but from the look of the leaflet the beer offer is on the back. If they were trying to shove the beer offer in peoples faces surely they would have put it on the FRONT of the leaflet where the reasonably healthy bacon and cabbage offers reside?

More manufactured outrage so we won’t notice governments hands in our pockets.

Finally cheap booze for kids. Mind the cabbage, bacon & beer could cause fierce wind.

It never ceases to amuse me how :

A) Quick people are to judge what appears to be a typesetting error and declare “Shock” & “DISGRACE”! when the real ignominious story is that our children need this help in the first place due to a failed state.

B) How quickly Politicos will jump on the bandwagon for some PR. (as well as media groups)!

C) How stupid statements like ““All retailers have a moral responsibility to customers” seem to actually be believed!

wasn’t the first tuesday called dickie night in any nightclub around the country ….now it’s stay at home and lets get locked night

Overreaction again, most people put the Children’s Allowance into the same pot as wages of social welfare, most parents would spend more than the children’s allowance on their kids but also most parents buy alcohol for themselves is anything that saves parents money, which allows them to spend money on their kids not a good thing. nnOh I remember the good days when my local had a sign up saying how many Butter Vouchers you needed for a pack of fags and no one complained.

This is a really good way to get free advertising for Centra, Oh yeah the Ryanair model.

Good deals thou in fairness :0)

Whats the fuss is all about?

I live nearly as far as possible from these Centra stores, about 200 miles away. My local Centra also have a promotional leaflet for this week from 2nd July to 7th July there’s no mention of Childrens Allowance but there are promotional prices for Budweiser, Miller, Bulmers cans @ 6 for €10, Carlsberg cans 8 for €10,Karpackie 20 bottle pack for €16 and wwines half price @ €5.99. I visit my local every day and I can honestly say that I have never witnessed anyone buying this alcohol, you would think people would be running out with cases of beer at those prices. The fact is that people have more important things to buy than cheap beer…

What’s also concerning is that all the other “special offers” relate to crap food that parents should be avoiding feeding to their children – crisps, pizza, ice cream, biscuits. I think the only items of any nutritional value is the bacon and cabbage. That’s the real scandal. Parents feeding their children junk food while they get pissed on a tray of beer.

Perhaps it’s time to put restrictions on how this allowance can be spent – no booze, no fags, no lottery tickets etc.

I’m off to get me self a few kids and grab a decent deal then when the deals end child bride or off up the chimney with them.

Not gd at all centra not gd …ye should be ashamed of yer selfs remember child allowance is not for food alone . .

Maybe it the best idea but it’s not like it was a specific deal on beer only as I feel I was lead to believe. I Mean half price bacon get free cabbage and 6 pack snax €1 sounds good, I’m sure by puttin beer on it they do presume most folk are responsible adults who behave accordingly and accept responsibility while not needing a shop a brand or a government to hold their hand and tell them what to do.

If only we had someone who could tell us how to live our lives, what to spend our money on and free us from making any decisions ourselves. Help us to control buying whatever people advertised. Then we could follow this person blindly and do exactly as we were told and possibly live in an Arian Utopia… Oh no wait somebody tried that before. If we are so worried about what certain people will use their money for and if they can make an informed decision as to what the best thing to do for their family is, surely this isn’t the fault of centra but rather our social services for leaving children in the hands of morons…

I don’t shop in centra but so what if they have special offers targeting people on social welfare on the day they get an extra few bob, and just because your on social welfare doesn’t mean you can’t be seen buying a few beers, Avril power would want to cop herself on how can anybody from ff tell anybody else what they can and can’t spend allowances on

Im a Barman, and Centra wont effect the trade in the pub. We get the same losers in every day for their drink, some days its hard work to listen to all the rubbish they talk.

i, personally think as as non drinker that it was just an error like 85% of the deals on the sheet are for food two for beer, its ireland everyone are alcos poor or rich and anyways the offer is for everyone not just the ppl getting there childers allowance, but still i think they wil think about it before they do it again. and 6 pack of snax for a euro NICE!!! love them

I don’t see what the big deal is.

But I do see people’s points and the need for them to express INTERNET OUTRAGE.
How about we all reach a compromise. If Children’s Allowance is being spent on booze, then how about maybe changing the booze to Smirnoff Ice or Fat Frogs and give it directly to the children?
This way the kids themselves are benefiting from the Children’s Allowance. And they are the taxpayers of the future and we need to get them hooked on one of the things that generates serious income for this government. Throw in a pack of 20 John Player Blue and we’re well on our way..

But seriously, This kind of keyboard activism is well and truly boring. If people want to get outraged over something, get outraged over closing libraries and lack of youth facilities outside of schools.
It’ll be far more constructive than getting so up your own arse in blind self righteousness over an ill-adivsed marketing campaign by a (relatively) small supermarket chain.

Wow a business tries to make more money, I can remember when butter vouchers could be traded for cigarettes and that’s not too long ago.

I don’t know what the problem is? Adults with children aren’t supposed to have a life now? Children’s allowance day when I was a kid meant a trip to the local with a friend where the mums had a glass of beer and we got a lemonade, a pack of crisps between us and a deck of cards and I think I turned out ok

In fairness to East Wall Centra, they tried selling cheap fruit and veg on Mickey Money Day as well but didn’t shift an orange in 4 years.

Find some of the comments here perplexing… This is really not OK from a major company; it’s one thing that we all know that people spend the Childrens’ Allowance on fags & booze. Indeed it’s another that we all implicitly accept it (since there’s really nothing one can do about it without bordering on fascism). It is really not OK that a major retailer would advertise beer specifically aimed at parents on Childrens’ Allowance day

heading back to that century before last when alcohol was cheaper than water. In the days before anything was known about alcohol dependency or childrens allowance. It is a matter of personal responsibility in my view.

How stupid of me … I thought Child Benefit was to provide for the children………..

I love to be outraged by this sort of carry on, oh wait, I don’t actually care, cheaper beer = more money for the children, the beer will be bought regardless

Moral outrage over a an advertisement from Central…… Priorities.

So they’re advertising this as being a benefit to parents, as they look to help their children, with cheap prices to save more money.

But why associate cheap drinking with children at all?

The below cost sale of alcohol and the problems around alcohol are debates for another day, but to have a flier promoting the spending of children’s allowance on booze is seriously lacking in common sense and decency.

So that is what a senator does in this country? Sits on her arse waiting for outrage and then writes letters to some people who will ignore her.

its a free country

People shouldn’t be paid to have children. If you can’t afford them, don’t have them. As regards the leaflet it is highly irresponsible of Centra and it almost backs up the mentality that its ok to spend the allowance on something that isnt for your children.

@paul anthony ward Thank you for speaking on our behalf, but we do like to express our own opinions. Not all of us “implicitly accept” that those in receipt of child benefit spend it on booze and fags. I must admit, it’s interesting to see how FF view those receiving child benefit, very interesting indeed.

Once saw a family shopping in the local Dunnes on a Christmas Eve. They had 96 cans of beer and a packet of mince pies in the trolley at the checkout. And the father was arguing with the wife whether they had enough drink!! I kid you not!!

at end of the day is it not the parents responsiblity whether or not to spend their money (or taxpayers i guess) on this beer promotion??Yes its bad taste advertising but that does not mean that u have to buy the beer does it???

Better that we stick our heads in the sand and pretend childrens allowance goes to children?

A woman on the line calling from clontarf, good afternoon to you, and the coleslaw is a filling in itself these days! and the coleslaw was from Centra?? Back to work people :-)

Kind of disgusting… but that’s what the alchohol industry has been doing for centuries – medicating the poor, taking their money, keeping them poor, mentally/emotionally depleted and unhealthy. They have the right to do that aswell, but equally I have the right to call it.

This leaflet just making that more explicit, and if someone only cares about how bad this looks without looking further into how it goes on *all* the time, then I would say they’re the kind of person that just wants things to look pretty above all else.

Not at all delighted with the bargains and it’s all going back into the economy.suppose the “children’s allowance day bargains “a bit annoying alright as now the kids know.

great deals.

Rumours nightclub used to do a special for Mickey Money Tuesday!

Oh was just wondering why my town was over runs with riff raff and snotty kids, now i know why……thanks journal!

What an over reaction by Connor graham. I think your description of Ireland is sad. Yes there are problems but to put down the entire nation like that says more about your sorry state of mind than the people in centra who came up with this idiotic idea.

They’ve apologised and withdrawn their disgraceful promotional leaflet, so I guess that ends that particular debate. But once again, it shows the lengths to which unscrupulous shopowners will go to sell alcohol.

I course it’s not good to target people to spend their children’s allowance on booze but a lot I them will any ways. At least this company is trying to get its share of the cake. In an ideal world people would’int do this but in an ideal world we would not need this money so desperately in the first place. I can’t condone what the company have done but I don’t congratulate them either. The problems around our welfare state is disgusting but it had being caused by our so called bankers and politicians so there’s an element of pot calling kettle black there.

Sink low …. the word low has an unfathomable depth!

I think its really sad that people think that most mothers in this country have noting better to do than spend money on booze.Great media stunt i have to say i wonder how long it will be before vouchers will be the new allowance welcome to your nanny state .

if i can remember correctly, at the back of the advert, it says allowance day, NOT children allowance day

Isn’t that soliciting fraud seen as childrens allowances is to pay the bills of your child and they are more or less asking people to spend it on beer?

that s really disgraceful!

Greedy traders. Shows what the real private sector is like. No scruples when it comes to whom they rip off.

Afaik they were told to remove the leaflet by HQ a short while ago.

……..If the cap fits!!!

That’s the greedy private sector for you!

Fumble in the greasy till etc, etc.

Let’s hope it’s not the children that get the ‘alcohol allowance!’

Probably worth pointing out that this offer or promotion would not have come from Musgraves hq. granted they are responsible because it’s one of their franchisees acting wrecklessly, immorally and stupidly, but it’s one of their franchisees and not them directly. Doesn’t make it less disgusting, just think that should be pointed out for all those probably yielding the swords for the evil corporate machine.