Enforce the existing underage drinking & anti social behaviour laws first before introducing more nanny state laws

Do we need a Lord Mayor or is that an increasing cost too??

I’d be more in favour of harsher sentences for anti-social behaviour but that would require politicians to actually put some thought into their work rather than just putting a value on it.

A minimum price won’t stop these people from drinking, they’ll just find the extra money from somewhere else.

Apart from all the sensible points made already, this proposal is incredibly elitist. Increasing the price of cheap drink would have no effect on rich people quaffing expensive wine and drinking in fancy bars, but would affect people of limited means who avail of cheap alcohol. Therefore the assumption is that the ‘lower classes’ are the ‘problem’ drinkers, while rich people obviously have no problem with alcohol as expensive drink is somehow less socially damaging or addictive.

I disagree with any attempt to interfere with the freedom of adults in this area anyway, but the only equitable way to do this would be charge people for alcohol proportional to their income, which would be logistically impossible and in any case is clearly beyond the narrow, neoliberal imagination of the paternalistic and snobbish ‘Labour’ Party.

people would just go north and fill up with drink and fuel and more revenue would be lost to the economy.

Father to son: did you hear – alcohol will double in price now …
Son: it means you will drink less, daddy ?
Father: No, it means you will eat less, my son!

It’s about time people in this country woke up to whats going on…

They want to increase beer prices to counter-act assholes who cannot be responsible. So I am to subsidise the cost of their bad behaviour? I earn a very small wage and enjoy a few beers at the weekend. I never fall home drunk, drink drive, get in fights or any shit like that. Why should my enjoyment cost more?

The same drunken – druggie fuck faces are in court every few weeks, pick up the local newspapers and it’s the SAME NAMES in it week in week out for courts notices. THEY are the problem, not the 99% of the rest of us who enjoy a few socialable pints at the weekend, go home and do an honest weeks work.

But, normal Joe Soap has to put up with paying for the scum at the bottom and the scum at the top who want to ride us bareback into hell with taxes. Enough is enough…

So increasing the cost of already cheap beer will have the effect of helping to “combat underage and problem drinking as well as anti-social behaviour” ? Hasn’t worked with the drugs trade now has it ?

When are these control freaks going to stop?

They just don’t get it do they.. ? Without sounding like a ‘People before profit’ crusader, perhaps if the Lord mayor and the ministers genuinely knew what life on a budget was like they’d start looking at more creative ways to tackle anti social behaviour.. Increase the taxes on stupid big cars! Increase taxes on houses over a certain square footage.. But stop with the taxation of those already struggling to make ends meet. And really, is taxation the solution at all??? What are we paying these people for? other than to roar the word ‘tax’ at every issue.

Ah sure maybe they should bring in prohibition altogether, make us even more miserable than they are already making us!! Face it, they don’t care, it’s just another way of making more revenue..the higher the price of the drink the more revenue they get. If our governent cared that much about our health, all of our money would be going into the health services, not shutting them down, there would be no charge for anything for people trying to give up smoking, (instead our goverment has increased the 10 a day habit to 20 a day habit by banning the sale of the 10 pack) This was brought in to stop kids buying fags. A load of codswollop, they are clubbing together to buy 20 now. All smokers would be able to get free nicorette and medication, the same as drug addicts can get free methadone. It is up to parents, teachers to teach kids about drinking sensible, and it is up to the adult individual to be resposible about their alohol consumption. Why should the majority of resposible adults have to pay more for alcohol just because some people don’t know when to stop. Increasing the price will not solve anything as those who want to get drunk and abusive will still do so.

This is the same crap as prohibiting off sales after 10 in the evening ostensibily to curb underage and antisocial drinking. The pub lobbyists I suspect have had some involvement in this and its another handy way of increasing tax revenue, it won’t stop certain individuals from buying drink in a similar way that cigarette tax hasn’t curbed smoking but created a massive black market. Thinking about opening a speakeasy, yeah I’m all for this tax.

Who ever heard of “Andrew Montague” before today, and what does he do to justify his salary? I think you’ll find that is the reason he put out this half baked idea….

it is the only drink that most of the ordinery people have now not like all the law makers have cheap drink in the dail bar. even some of them dont pay the tabs the poor tings

Bloody Nanny Nation

increasings alcohol prices won’t do a thing to stop teenagers drinking and worse yet just turn them to cheaper more detrimental narcotic drugs instead.

closing off licenses 1 hour earlier didnt work either…in fact it made it worse cos now teenagers strart to drink one hour earlier than before and get even more drunk because of it, while at the same time everyone else has been inconvenienced by it. To the anti-drink coalition pull your heads out of your backsides and look at the bigger picture.

more expensive booze will only result in teenagers choosing cheaper illegal narcotics MORE.

This measure would probably lead to underagers sourcing more accessible and dangerous substance abuse. The ‘charge more’ solution doesn’t work. Education, and enforcement of existing laws, might. Alcohol abuse in Ireland is pandemic. Does anyone really think our young people will do any different than our adults? Wake up.

Lift the Garda recruitment ban, build a few prisons, set up a serious community service programme (litter removal, graffiti cleaning and public works maintenance) to punish offenders.

Ok they’ve taken away most of our disposable income, now they are making the few luxuries we can afford to expensive for the little bit of income we have left.

More “Nanny State” Rubbish!! ….. No smoking in cars??? Why not just tax us on the air we breath?? Probably shouldn’t give them any ideas or it will show up in the next budget!

Another Labour party representative discussing punitive action that threatens the least well-off. I have no idea what or who that party is supposed to represent anymore. Also, Gilmore and Rabbitte (the champions of social justice) seem to have disappeared whilst allowing Quinn and Burton sell their center-left souls to the devil. I wrongly assumed that they were given their mandate in order to temper the extreme views of the conservative Christian democrats in FG. The Labour party should, and probably will, go the way of the Greens and PDs before them as whipping boys for the majority party for having no balls. Perhaps if they had remained in opposition, we, for once, could have some semblance of a decent left/right political dichotomy.

Lord mayor I don’t think so. who gave this fool a job?
The people should decide who the lord mayor is.
How much money is he costing us the taxpayer?
What about that very expensive property he gets to play with at our expense and all the big gold chains he wears around his neck who pays for them! We do.
Down with the so called lord mayor

Alcohol or drug abuse usually occurs when a person is in a bad state of mind. maybe irelands high alcohol abuse is a symtom of a greater problem ie: unemployment and a lack of oppurtunity

Stupid idea, all you have to do is go to the North ! what the mayor is implying is that the poor are the ones who cause all the unsocial unrest, not the D4 brigade ? If he was any cleverer he would be dangerous !

Government’s job when it comes to pricing should be limited to setting tax rates which apply to every business. After that, it’s up to each business to set whatever price they like. This is how a proper free-market, capitalist system is supposed to work .
There are social side effects to every sector of business (anti-social behaviour, alcoholism, nicotine and drug addiction, depression). This is a larger societal problem and will not be solved in any way by government getting involved with setting prices.

There should be no minimum pricing limits on anything, it only opens the door to price fixing and we are in a bad enough state already without making the matter worse. I do not wish to live in a police state. I live in a democracy and as such I cherish my rights as a free citizen and my rights of free choice. If the laws were enforced and strengthened on anti social behaviour it would make a better start to addressing the problems and instead of spouting ‘pie in the sky’ policy, take a look at the bar on training new Garda recruits……….

Let’s double the price of cars too, that should stop road accidents, right?

Oh, and don’t forget the tax on emotional music – we need to cut down on depression, and this should do it.

I honestly don’t know who comes up with silly ideas like this. Increasing the cost of alcohol won’t rid us of our problems, but educating people and making people realise that it’s a dangerous drug might help.

The government introduce an initative to reduce Vat on certain products to attract more tourists to Ireland. Money’s are to be appropriated from pension funds to pay for this initative.
Now this clown wants to put up the price of alcoholic drinks to discourage drinking.
A case of the dumb leading the dumber.

Ya because young people are really going to stop drinking because their lager now costs a euro instead of 50 cent…..they know this.it’s essentially another tax.they really are trying to hit people in all areas

Stupid

Times are hard enough and they want to tax the only solace left!!

I don’t think the price would have that much effect. People are already bootlegging, brewing their own, distilling their own, turning to other stuff and growing their own. This would just increase that kind of activity. I see 6 packs of dutch gold being delivered in the morning by taxi to houses, the taxi has to cost more than the beer. Price may deter people buying it in shops, but it will not reduce consumption.

Another classic case of “post hoc, ergo, proptor hoc”, from the politicians.

Dom Perignon 75 a marvelous vintage,the heavy bottle doubles as a useful club to beat ones significant other dont you think.I still keep a few bottles around the tent i now live in avoiding the Property and water Tax makes a pleasant change from Vodka.Any price hike would not affect one in the least the smuggler is after all a reasonable man.

@ Paul O’Brien

it totally agree with the legalization of cannabis. i dont smoke anymore but it definitely seems to mellow out ppl and thus lowers the risk of violence. have it grown under license and strict monitoring (new tax revenue) and then tax the 20 pack boxes of “joints” in the same way cigarettes are taxed. that way ppl who do choose to smoke it pay back some revenue into the coffers so the rest of us that dont smoke are not robbed by our government for more money we dont have, to pay for the foolish actions of others

Regulating peoples’ drinking is not a function of Government. Why do FG-Lab seem to be so hell bent on social engineering?

This is only a way for the government to screw more money out of people.

Introduce enforced sterilization for idiots then we can all drink sensibly in peace

I voted YES because I’d never go near any of that cheap crap. Dutch piss in a can. The law would leave the price of premium beer unchanged :D

Evidently the majority of the people who answered this poll enjoy a drink… or two… or three….

The amount of interest in this article reflects the countries obsession with drink.

What they should do is open the off license later. The great thing about cheap drink is. “The more you drink the more you save” (o;

Price it per litre sold in off licences and pubs so don’t get more at cheaper prices people consume pints because they get twice as beer as the same price bottle of beer, a bottle should be half the price of a pint thus reducing consumption simples people’s

I vote yes , I am a barman by trade and this is why pubs and clubs are closing unsocial behaviour so either increase the price of cheap booze or lower the tax on publican drink sales to encourage social behaviour and

A female can buy her recommended weekly units of alcohol for as little as 8 euros in some supermarkets and a male can do the same for as little as 10 euro. We desperately need to change our attitude towards alcohol. We need a multi disciplinary approach involving all the statuary bodies to promote, educate and encourage harm reduction within our communities.

I’d rather these polls gave a ‘maybe’ option. The ‘I don’t know’ signifies indifference. Just saying

Obviously the man is refering to that piss in a can which can cost as little as a fiver for 10. Only bottomfeeders drink that horrible stuff and it cant be good for your health, which is a good thing. Make it cheaper I say, let them get more of it for their dole money. Let them buy it for all their underage scummer friends. Hopefully it will make them all infertile and save the country from another generation of their ilk. what’s the Irish word for eugenics?

if off licence prices were closer to pub prices it would solve a lot of problems…this would also help the pubs get back some of the trade they have lost to off licences

yes dey sud then they can stop the supermarkets and off licences from destroying the bar trade.