The Pub trade is dying - Minimum price for Alcohol?

darkpagandeath

Has this got passed the EU in regards to Scotland yet ?

snaps

I was at a wedding in Czech the last weekend. Beers were 18kr about 55c.
I noticed a large police presence around popular venues (this was in the country not a city).
Our taxi driver even got stopped and breath tested.
I was told by my host that I shouldn't act in a bad manner as I would be dealt with quite swiftly with a night in the cold and an expensive fine.

VinLieger

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Has this got passed the EU in regards to Scotland yet ?

No the ruling is later this year in November December afaik

L'Enfer du Nord

snaps wrote: »

I was at a wedding in Czech the last weekend. Beers were 18kr about 55c.
I noticed a large police presence around popular venues (this was in the country not a city).
Our taxi driver even got stopped and breath tested.
I was told by my host that I shouldn't act in a bad manner as I would be dealt with quite swiftly with a night in the cold and an expensive fine.

Funny this, I noticed a similar attitude in Poland, i.e. Some fairly drunk people on the streets on a Saturday night but well behaved in part due to 'serious' police presence. Ireland seems to have gone the other way, for many a night out isn't complete without acting the maggot/being a mad lad after closing time. I used to live in Galway city centre. Certainly not dangerous but walking home sober on a busy night I would encounter lots of in your face drunks. Of course policing of towns and cities properly would cost money, might reduce consumption in pubs, much better to slap and extra charge on office licence alcohol.

Long Gone

L'Enfer du Nord wrote: »

Funny this, I noticed a similar attitude in Poland, i.e. Some fairly drunk people on the streets on a Saturday night but well behaved in part due to 'serious' police presence. Ireland seems to have gone the other way, for many a night out isn't complete without acting the maggot/being a mad lad after closing time. I used to live in Galway city centre. Certainly not dangerous but walking home sober on a busy night I would encounter lots of in your face drunks. Of course policing of towns and cities properly would cost money, might reduce consumption in pubs, much better to slap and extra charge on office licence alcohol.

We should have zero tolerance to acting the maggot etc - It's because those f***wits do it with impunity that they continue to do it - Catch them young and give them a "short sharp shock" - In the good old days the guards would just give them a good beatin' - Proper order too. Nowadays the thugs have all the "human rights" - Nobody cares about the rights of the decent law abiding people not to have their quality of life affected by them...... :mad:

kylith

Eastern European police have very little sense of humour about acting the maggot.

At the same time the German and Dutch (even the French) police seemed quite pleasant to me and willing to engage with slightly loutish behaviour. Probably because they know that civvies know that overstepping the line once is the end of their night out.

elperello

This letter from today's Irish Times just about sums up our dilemma. We are caught in the headlights of an unholy alliance of neo-prohibitionists, trade interests and dumb politicians who are going to stick it to us.


Sir, – Ronan Farren (June 23rd) states that the proposed price increase “will affect the proverbial little old lady who carefully buys one bottle of wine a week”.
Unfortunately the nub of the problem is that the little old lady in question does not have a paid-for lobby group, unlike other interested parties such as the sports industry, to convince Ministers to exempt her from the new legislation. – Yours, etc,

Yours etc, Paul Comerton

For the record if said "little old lady" currently enjoys a bottle for six euro and MUP drives it up to ten euro she will have to find an extra 208 euro a year to continue her modest enjoyment of a drink in her own home.

syklops

elperello wrote: »

This letter from today's Irish Times just about sums up our dilemma. We are caught in the headlights of an unholy alliance of neo-prohibitionists, trade interests and dumb politicians who are going to stick it to us.


Sir, – Ronan Farren (June 23rd) states that the proposed price increase “will affect the proverbial little old lady who carefully buys one bottle of wine a week”.
Unfortunately the nub of the problem is that the little old lady in question does not have a paid-for lobby group, unlike other interested parties such as the sports industry, to convince Ministers to exempt her from the new legislation. – Yours, etc,

Yours etc, Paul Comerton

For the record if said "little old lady" currently enjoys a bottle for six euro and MUP drives it up to ten euro she will have to find an extra 208 euro a year to continue her modest enjoyment of a drink in her own home.

Using the single bottle of wine a week analogy, the increase is 208 a year which is more than the water charges. If there was one issue I'd expect people to take to the streets over its this, but aside from a single letter in the paper now and again, and a few people riled up on Boards, no-one seems to give a damn.

A Disgrace

syklops wrote: »

Using the single bottle of wine a week analogy, the increase is 208 a year which is more than the water charges. If there was one issue I'd expect people to take to the streets over its this, but aside from a single letter in the paper now and again, and a few people riled up on Boards, no-one seems to give a damn.

Or, a couple who drink 3 bottles of wine a week between them (which is within the governments ‘safe’ drinking guidelines of 11 standard drinks for women and 17 std for men) and normally pay, say, €6 in Lidl (which will now be a minimum €10) - They will be out of pocket by €625 a year!

There has been very little fuss about it because most people are ignorant of the facts, and/or think they won’t be affected by it

Flex

syklops wrote: »

Using the single bottle of wine a week analogy, the increase is 208 a year which is more than the water charges. If there was one issue I'd expect people to take to the streets over its this, but aside from a single letter in the paper now and again, and a few people riled up on Boards, no-one seems to give a damn.

There was a guy on Newstalk a short while back defending such scenarios by saying people need to realise they arent entitled to have wine with their dinner.

In terms of lack of opposition to it, everyone Ive spoken to opposes it, and seemed shocked at the idea of tray of beer costing just under €50 from now on, they dont believe itll happen. They keep saying its just a box-ticking exercise by FG to sure up publican votes before the general election, a vanity project for Leo Varadkar (as he seems to take every opportunity possible to remind people how 'hes making history' and 'this will be his legacy', etc..), and generally just believe the government will back track and set it at a level so low nobody will notice once the time comes, unfortunately. People dont seem to realise what it will result in.

hatrickpatrick

Flex wrote: »

There was a guy on Newstalk a short while back defending such scenarios by saying people need to realise they arent entitled to have wine with their dinner.

People should be entitled to do whatever the hell they like with their own bodies in the privacy of their own home. The government is NOT entitled to control people's lives in this manner. I wish someone would publicly put this argument to one of these eejits on the radio and see how they try to justify the removal of bodily autonomy.

darkpagandeath

VinLieger wrote: »

No the ruling is later this year in November December afaik

So again our idiots forge ahead and could end up being fined and told to remove the legislation ? As health grounds is a very very dodgy one to prove.

dr.fuzzenstein

The problem is that government ministers are no fools, despite the way they act.
They know that the majority of people want "the strong man who bangs the table and says what's what!"
The problem with that (as we are seeing with Greece), is that it will piss off whoever you're trying to negotiate anything with it and as an approach it is idiotic and wrong. So if you try this approach on anything that matters, you will turn your country into an outcast and basket case.
So Leo has zeroed in on this soft target, because he knows that if you disagree with him, you are obviously a deranged lunatic and you WANT people to die of alcohol poisoning! So if you want fluffy kittens and happy children playing in the sunshine, you will OF COURSE support this measure, unless you want Ireland to fall into the very deepest pit of hell.
Of course we all know that this is absolute bullsh*t, but the vast majority of people will absolutely lap this up and stand on their hindlegs and slap their fins together, because to them the minister is "showing guts" and "doing something!". Or maybe they don't even know what's going on. It's hard to tell with the Radio 1 crowd.

VinLieger

Prof Frank Murray on Pat Kenny this morning continuing to spout the lies that minimum pricing will reduce the consumption of problem drinkners.

His evidence? a study of 2 counties in canada..........

Cus Canadians and Irish drinking habits and culture are sooooooo similar

syklops

VinLieger wrote: »

Prof Frank Murray on Pat Kenny this morning continuing to spout the lies that minimum pricing will reduce the consumption of problem drinkners.

His evidence? a study of 2 counties in canada..........

Cus Canadians and Irish drinking habits and culture are sooooooo similar

Any canadians I know are drier(from a booze consumption point of view) than freeze-dried jaffa cakes. We need to start making a list of these experts(spoofers) and the next time the put their oar, snap it off.

al22

Lowering wages - if no money for a drink and for anything - drinking will be stopped significally.

darkpagandeath

al22 wrote: »

Lowering wages - if no money for a drink and for anything - drinking will be stopped significally.

Problem drinkers will buy booze before anything.

Banjo String

Hopefully that means our publicans-TDs masterplan (in cahoots with the VFI) will now be shot down in flames after this ruling....

Health reasons my arse.

Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to fix a minimum price for alcohol has suffered a huge blow after the European court’s top lawyer ruled it would risk infringing EU law on free trade.

In a formal opinion on Sturgeon’s flagship policy, the advocate general to the European court of justice, Yves Bot, has said fixing a legal price for all alcoholic drinks could only be justified to protect public health if no other mechanism, such as tax increases, could be found.

Bot’s opinion is expected to mean a final defeat for the Scottish government’s efforts to be the first in Europe to introduce minimum pricing – supported by leading figures in the medical profession and the police, after several years of legal battles.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/03/scotlands-minimum-alcohol-price-plan-dealt-huge-blow

VinLieger

Banjo String wrote: »

Hopefully that means our publicans-TDs masterplan (in cahoots with the VFI) will now be shot down in flames after this ruling....

Health reasons my arse.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/03/scotlands-minimum-alcohol-price-plan-dealt-huge-blow

****ing fantastic news!!

Banjo String

VinLieger wrote: »

****ing fantastic news!!

**opens buckfast**

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Lets get pissed, to aldi for 4 euro wine!

suicide_circus

http://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FKX/0YTK/FB7FYD1U/FKX0YTKFB7FYD1U.gif

BattleCorp

Banjo String wrote: »

**opens buckfast**

pfffft. Lightweight

**opens methylated spirits**

worded

Would thinner or perpetrated straws stop people drinking as much? Pint glasses could have a special tamper proof lid that these straws could be put into.

What about putting sponge in all bottles and cans at production stage so the alcohol dripped out slower thus slowing down consumption?

Thinking outside the box/pub here

SEPT 23 1989

worded wrote: »

Would thinner or perpetrated straws stop people drinking as much? Pint glasses could have a special tamper proof lid that these straws could be put into.

What about putting sponge in all bottles and cans at production stage so the alcohol dripped out slower thus slowing down consumption?

Thinking outside the box/pub here

out of your box thinking more like

dr.fuzzenstein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aiAdL8yy1Q

murphyaii

Was in oliver st john gogartys last sunday after the game about 11pm.
7.30 for a carlsberg, i nearly keeled over when i heard the price.
Extortionate prices in temple bar but i always knew that.
If the publicans want the public to come back they need to reduce prices which in turn landlords need to reduce the rents for their pub :mad:premises which is the root cause.
:mad:

smash

murphyaii wrote: »

Was in oliver st john gogartys last sunday after the game about 11pm.
7.30 for a carlsberg, i nearly keeled over when i heard the price.

You could literally have walked 15ft and got one for a fiver.

jobbridge4life

Don't celebrate yet. Department of Health have already released a statement welcoming the result and restating their commitment to the plan.