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A SET PRICE for alcohol is being pushed forward by Minister for Health Simon Harris “as soon as possible” after data was released last month about minimum unit pricing in Scotland.
Results showed that alcohol consumption in Scotland has dropped to its lowest levels since the 1990s when records began after minimum unit pricing was brought in last year.
But what exactly is minimum unit pricing and what will it mean for Irish alcohol prices if commenced?
What is minimum unit pricing?
Minimum unit pricing is a set cost below which alcohol can’t be sold. It is a section of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 that has not yet been commenced.
The Act states that the cheapest price for a gram of alcohol is 10 cent. A standard drink has 10 grams of alcohol in it, meaning the lowest price for one standard drink is now €1.
A standard drink is half a pint of beer/lager/stout, a small 100ml glass of wine or a pub measure of spirits.
This might sound cheap, but most drinks are marked up in price for retailers and pubs/clubs so it will mainly affect very cheap drinks with strong alcohol content.
Why is it being discussed now?
The Public Health (Alcohol) Act was brought in last October with a timeline set out for when different sections would commence over the next few years.
The Act was supported by most parties and was pushed forward through the Dáil and Seanad. However, aspects of it were opposed by the Independent Alliance and some lobbyists since 2015 when the Bill was first brought forward before becoming an Act in 2018.
The minimum unit pricing section of the Act is being discussed now after data was published in June about minimum unit pricing in Scotland.
Data showed that alcohol consumption had dropped to the lowest level since records began in the 1990s after minimum pricing was brought in last year.
In Ireland, minimum unit pricing and other sections of the 2018 Act need a separate government decision to commence, which is why it hasn’t started yet despite being signed into law.
The Minister for Health Simon Harris is intending to seek a revised government decision to allow minimum pricing to commence here as soon as possible, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Health.
Harris told TheJournal.ie in 2017: “In terms of when it will commence? I will consider it then, we will have to see what the situation is like in the North but we won’t be holding off on this forever either.”
Won’t people just travel to Northern Ireland to get cheaper alcohol then?
They could, which is why the original government decision in 2013 approving the drafting of a Bill specified that the Minister for Health in the Republic and the North were in agreement to act simultaneously on minimum unit pricing to avoid negative impacts on trade across the border.
However, Minister Harris is trying to amend this agreement to push forward minimum unit pricing just in the Republic.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health told TheJournal.ie on 5 July: “The Minister for Health wishes to implement the minimum unit pricing of alcohol products in order to reduce as soon as possible the significant health harms and financial costs of the way alcohol is consumed in Ireland.”
These harms and costs include cases of alcohol-attributed deaths, liver disease, breast cancer and other issues, according to the spokesperson.
What’s happening in Scotland?
In 2018, Scotland became the first country in the EU to bring in minimum unit pricing. Data reported in June showed that consumption levels of alcohol had dropped to the lowest level since records began in the early 1990s.
However, alcohol prices are cheaper in Scotland than in Ireland, even at the minimum unit price. The minimum price at the moment in Scotland for a 700ml bottle of whiskey is £14 (€15.60).
A 700ml bottle of vodka can’t be cheaper than £13.13 (€14.63).
Will this affect someone who only drinks every now and then?
Minister Finian McGrath, stepping in for Simon Harris, said in the Dáil that “the minimum price will make little difference to those who only drink low or moderate volumes of alcohol”.
Alcoholic drink prices in pubs, clubs and restaurants won’t be affected by minimum pricing, according to the Department of Health. Pints and pub measures of spirits will all remain at the same price.
The HSE low-risk guidelines from askaboutalcohol.ie for women are 11 standard drinks over the course of a week, with at least two alcohol-free days.
For men, it is 17 standard drinks spread over the week with at least two alcohol-free days.
The evidence base for introducing minimum unit pricing in Ireland is analysis carried out by the University of Sheffield in England, which has the same low-risk drinking levels.
Currently, a woman can reach her low-risk weekly drinking limit for €5.49, while a man can reach his for less than €9, according to Alcohol Action Ireland.
Which drinks will cost more when it’s brought in?
The main drinks that will increase in price are cheap drinks with a high alcohol content such as supermarket own-brands of vodka and gin.
Tesco’s Nikita Imperial Vodka 700ml will increase from €12.99 to €20.71, a rise of €7.72 This will make it the same price as the retail cost of Smirnoff Vodka.
Tesco’s Windsor Castle London Dry Gin 700ml will rise by €4.72. Linden Village Cider will also see an increase of €2.89, rising from €5 to €7.89.
An average bottle of wine can no longer be sold for less than €7.50.
Cheaper beers such as Dutch Gold will increase by 45c per can in an 8 pack. Tesco lager will see an increase of 6c per can. More known brands like Guinness, Heineken and Bulmers will see no price change.
What else is in the Act?
The Act also includes new restrictions on advertising and selling alcohol products. 23 sections of the Act were signed into law in November 2018 by Simon Harris to take effect over three years.
Provisions on including health warnings, alcohol contents and energy contents of alcohol products on their containers. Restrictions will be brought in about advertising and sponsorship of alcohol products.
Alcohol advertising on vehicles or transport stations and within 200m of a school, creche or local authority playground will not be allowed.
Cinema advertising will be prohibited except in films with an 18 cert or in a licensed premises in a cinema. Kid’s clothes that promote alcohol will be banned.
Any person who sells or advertises alcohol products at a price lower than the minimum cost could be found guilty of an offence.
Will this reduce alcohol consumption rates in Ireland?
That is the hope anyways based on global evidence. However, it is only one section of a whole Act of other initiatives.
The objective of the entire Act is to reduce alcohol consumption to the OECD average of 9.1 litres of pure alcohol per person per year by 2020, reduce harm, delay young people drinking alcohol too early and minimise alcohol-related harm by regulating the supply and price of alcohol.
This consumption target is above the global average of 6.2 litres per year.
Eunan McKinney from Alcohol Action Ireland said that minimum unit pricing on its own would have a limited impact on consumption levels.
“The Bill and the Act is a very progressive piece of legislation, but it’s only progressive if it’s implemented and at the moment we only have sight of four or five minor aspects of the Act that are going to be implemented,” said McKinney.
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Absolute scam to gouge and fleece people.
@Diogenes: Not if overall consumption decreases, as it did in Scotland . Still, if you’re Pre programmed to give out about the Government, go right ahead.
@Thomas O’ Donnell:
Consumption has actually increased in Scotland,
People are home brewing ,
The Irish government will ignore the facts just to appease its self interested pub owning colleagues,,
Our politicians don’t care about the health of the nation
@Thomas O’ Donnell: How do you explain this? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scots-are-drinking-more-despite-minimum-pricing-qdspgtrr0
Sounds like a lot of lobbying has went on here so the cheap stuff goes up and the good stuff stays the same.so Guinness Heineken Smirnoff will be happy because this kills off their competition more or less.i also think this is to force more people out to pubs as well.Smoking a joint will be so much cheaper.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: there was an article on uk news last week that stated heavy drinkers and addicted drinkers in glasgow have turned to drugs known as ‘street med’s ‘ as these are cheaper than alcohol since the minimum price law came into effect . ‘STREET MEDS ‘ are usually in tablet form and made in a ‘home lab’ set up using basic equipment -they are a form of amphetamines and barbiturates and can be bought for as little as 25 pence per tablet . you can buy a ‘bag’ of 20 tabs for under a fiver ! glasgow health authority and hospital are reporting that an unprecedented number of former alcoholics are now addicted to these ‘street meds’ and it is turning them into ‘zombies’ unable to function ,walk or even speak when under the influence of the meds – 5 people have died in recent months due to ‘street med’ use . doctors and drug experts say they don’t know what the long term effects of using these drugs is likely to be with regards to mental and physical health ,but addiction to them is very quick and its use is ‘spreading rapidly’ among former drinkers who can no longer afford their ‘usual’ drug of choice (alcohol) and have turned to street meds instead . in the article they interviewed several people who are hooked on these tablets – one a 30 yr old woman (who looked closer to 70 than 30) said she had been on the meds for a month and she felt worse now than at any time when she ‘was on the drink ‘ she said she has turned to bag snatching and phone robbing to get money to pay for the drug- something she never did with alcohol ,another addict who said he would normally have drank 4 x2 ltr bottles of cider a day said he is now taking ”between 4 and 6 bags” of street meds a day – costing him more than drink did but the level of addiction is quicker with meds than with drink . so bringing in the minimum pricing has not solved the problem -its only changed the type of the addiction – the effects of which are not yet known but medical experts seem to think it could be far worse than alcohol .
@Diogenes:
yes and they telling us that we will have cheaper alcohol from the Brazillian Trade Agreement
Please tell me what is going on
@Thomas O’ Donnell: I’m calling bull on this article, drinking trends are on a downward curve year o year for ten years, logically then this year is the lowest if the trend holds true, not much to do with the new pricing
@Diogenes: All this will accomplish is addicts will be more out of pocket, even lower on the social economic ladder. And those who drink less will turn to different cheaper substances.
Statistics can prove anything and people hear what they want to hear
This has more to do with the publicans lobby, than with concern for health.
Scam
@Nehppo McG: yep
@Leroy Brown: Nope
Thoese hat have an addiction/ dependency on alcohol won’t be put off by pricing they will go without something else to get the alcohol. If anything it could drive thoese who are in an already challenging situation into possibly poverty.
I know exactly how it’ll work. Every 2 or 3 months, I’ll stick ‘Enniskillen’ into Google maps, drive up, fill the boot of the car with cheap cans and whiskey, and drive back to college in Galway. Not many students can afford anything other than the cheapest drinks before we go on nights out and I’m no exception. I’ll be stocking up on my cheap cans and spirits for a few months at a time
@Alex Nevin: poor student’s but yet you can afford 2-3 months drink in one purchase and the extra cost of petrol. Bet if you have a stockpile of booze in the shed it’ll get drank twice as quick as if you were buying in 6 packs locally.
Some bunch of lads. So some local pub is struggling, so they decide it a good idea to put the local supermarkets in the firing line and start playing god with there pricing. FF/FG, listen, that same pub is going to be still struggling after, cause they are just unsustainable. No one wants to drink there! Scotland is not equal to Ireland.
Increasing the price of cigarettes and alcohol year after year has totally stopped people smoking and drinking…
@Declan Flynn:
I don’t think Declan only to bring cigarettes in from Poland etc and they are being sold on the black market by increasing prices encourages black market dealing
I rarely ever drink alcohol so it doesn’t affect me, but it’s easy to see it’s just another way of lumping tax onto the citizen under the guise of something good & politically correct, the same will happen with carbon taxes, it’s an on going cycle of tax, tax, tax.
Our tourist industry is already having difficulties after the VAT increase, this will just make things worse
@David Grey: Spot on, Exactly what I was thinking!
Why is it considered fantastic that ‘alcohol consumption in Scotland dropped to its lowest level’????
WE. ARE. ADULTS. Are we now not allowed enjoy ourselves outside work hours???? Fair enough target underage drinking but kindly p!ss off and allow the rest of us TAX PAYING ADULTS to have a social life!
@Kath Noonan: if you drink the expensive stuff your not effected so we are probably still paying for daily subsidised drink.
Anyone who thinks so called premium drinks won’t now increase to keep their distance from the previously cheap plonk needs to think again. This will have knock on across the board
@JustOneScoop: Maybe, but people will more than likely just buy the branded drink now therefore increasing their sales
@JustOneScoop: its perfect storm for the ‘premium’ brands. People will no longer buy what was the cheaper alternative. whats the point when the premium brand is now the same price
in Gran Canaria you can get a bottle of wine for 3.75 and buy “imported” Gordans Gin 1L for 11.95! this is just a joke! FG looking after their buddies in the Pub trade… Don’t hear the Healy-Rae gang giving out about it either
disproportionately affecting those with less income, tell me the money goes rehab and I might be swayed but into pascal’s black hole and i’ll put it down to same old sh!t
A bit of a hangover today but quite often when i go out because i have to drive early the following morning i often drink the nonalcohol beers which have really come on alot
but how can a non alcohol beer be more expensive then a pint of alcohol beer the tax should be scrapped on these non alcohol beer it certainly encourage more people to drink them.
The more expensive drink could persuade youngsters to try drugs for their kicks, not that a lot of them need much persuading.
@John: that’s a really good point
Drug consumption has skyrocketed in Scotland since minimum pricing with alcoholics turning to bad cheap highly addictive drugs creating worse health problems. General alcohol consumption was on the wane year on year before the change. Wake up Ireland its a scam.
This drives me crazy! Listening to Senators who cannot control their drinking, push their coping agenda on the rest of us is maddening. Alcohol is more expensive in Ireland than most countries worldwide!! I can see the tourists flocking here as we have found another way to gouge them. Hotels are full (with homeless), car rental is truly exorbitant, and now it’s off the charts to relax with a drink. Ireland has become a nation of gougers with Leo in charge. The people will roll over while his cronies play on the swings!
The supermarkets along the border will die a death. It would be even worthwhile once a month driving to Newry from Dublin and filling the boot full of Gargle..
Is there a website that tracks what TDs voted yes / no to various bills? I’d be interested to see what alleged working class heroes in my constituency opposed this nonsense so I can be ready to rant at them come election time (unfortunately I didn’t get a single canvasser during the council EU elections)
@Trenchant Buffoon:
Yes, here’s the link.
Pick the Dáil debate you’re interested in, & click on View detailed results.
Scroll down to
Show member vote results.
It shows you the full list.
@Trenchant Buffoon: http://www.cronies.ie thats all they are
@Fiona Fitzgerald: thanks for that. I’ll be interested in how the working class heroes in SF voted seeing as their comrades up north were planning a similar measure until stormont was shut
@Trenchant Buffoon: You’re welcome. It’s been online for years, and it’s a lot more searchable now than it used to be.
Where’s this extra tax really going to go though??
It’s drink driving killed the pub seen and everybody knows that ,now drugs wil the cheaper option ,they get everything wrong this shower the country isn’t fun to live in any more unless you have plenty of money which most people don’t
Drink consumption in Scotland was reducing anyway, now the price difference with the expensive brands will be reduced, so they will benefit.
Simon Harris is a total disaster as a health minister , the children’s hospital will affect all of our pockets and now minimum pricing,
I hope the new EU cabinet will block it,
It goes against EU rules for good reason,
It favours the big sellers and will strangle the smaller craft beer companies,
Why are the Healy Raes not complaining for a change ,
I hate this nanny state,
And will see you see you all in Newry
Good article journal. Hard to know what to say about this . Carefully plotted calculations. Brings in some more revenue and keeps certain activist groups happy. What’s more to be said. Will do v little in the long run for people with alcohol issues. They might have to switch from their usual to something cheaper. Unless vodka is your thing. Apart from this Worst case an extra few cents for the lowest priced beer listed in the article. For the next generation though maybe a good thing…… stop before you start?
How will the TDs be able to pay for the drinks in the Fail Bar when they owe thousands at the moment
@pat seery: Pat you answered your own question, they just don’t pay.lol
Scotland drinking more despite minimum pricing. More bullshyte from FG https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scots-are-drinking-more-despite-minimum-pricing-qdspgtrr0
Id say oul Eunan Mckinney is a barrel of laughs on a night out
I never drink unless I’m alone or with someone.
I had the misfortune of listening to Simon Harris at a charity event recently .
We got used to his bite size messages on RTE, but I can honestly say the guy is totally incompetent,
Does he have any idea what minimum pricing means, it’s a soviet style tactic that the Norwegians implemented 20 yrs ago,
Norwegians resorted to brewing rocket fuel alcohol in their homes,
Listening to Harris it’s clear to me he doesn’t genuinely care about people ,
Minimum pricing will create a new set bof problems,
Scotland is already witnessing this,
Scotland will never be allowed into the EU but we are a part of that family and we need to follow the rules that protect small business,
Simon Harris needs to wake up ,
Ireland won’t accept new pricing
@Melanie Tournier: the incompetent clown has to get funds for the most expensive hospital in the world from somewhere.
@Melanie Tournier: same when I was in Iceland 20 years ago. locals were falling about in home distilled spirits at 7pm they went into nightclubs to sober up. but homebrew doesn’t show on the sales figures
Close the Dail Bar.
@John Declan: never mind the bar – close the fecking dail and do us all a favour !
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
1/what happened to the usual fg mantra of “not being able to interfere in the markets ” ? 2/how much extra revenue will this bring into government coffers via alcohol tax and vat ?
3/ where will the extra revenue go ? (a) into rehabilitation centres to help people with addiction problems( i doubt it ) ? or (b) into another pay rise for the top 5%?(most likely ).
4/ so the government think that these price rises will not affect drink on sale in pubs or the price ‘higher end’ brands ? of course it will – if the ‘cheaper’ brands price goes up -the rest will follow suit !
5/ how much of this legislation is due to lobbying from the irish vintners association and companies like diageo ?
You voted for them so tough shit, suck it up.
Minister for health my ring !!!.
These forking idiots could manage their way out of a wet bag.
Are you still happy you voted for them…
@tommytukamomo: Who would you suggest we vote for
@tommytukamomo: who did you vote for ?
@Mick Cullen: you have a brain …. use it !!
@Ronan McDermott: Not this shower of parasites.
@Mick Cullen: vote for direct democracy.we can run the show ourselves we don’t need these lobbying loving pri*ks to tell us what to do..and tommytukamomo is bang on.ye vote for these wasters but moan about them all the time keeping putting them in government to fook everything up..then say who else can we vote for.there’s DDI brand new party give them ago instead of waiting for the golden perfect party to arrive along.its simple vote differently or don’t vote at all..
what about the dail bar, are they going to start paying full price? absolute gobshootery. #getyourhandsoffmycans
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
With this law they’ll need a border with Northern Ireland even if Brexit doesn’t happen!
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
What an idiot. This isn’t governments job. Do what you are elected for. Wages housing taxes and safety on the streets. Not this rubbish. Big brother
Message from the future; It is coming in on January 4th 2022. The people are deeply disappointed by this unpopular move and slabs now cost over 40 quid. Price gouging at its worst.
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