Cheap off-license alcohol ‘should be doubled in price’

Littlehorny

typical political stupidity and short sightedness. 1 person in a 1000 cant behave themselves and just enjoy a beer that didnt cost them a fortune so the 999 others get the shaft! A few cans of beer on a friday night when work is over is all i have left for ****s sake!

Maybe some of the other posters could take a minute to understand the rationale behind the policy and then offer some constructive criticism?

I understand it just fine. Publican work.
On a side note, insanity is often said to be doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Constantly putting up the prices of cigs and alcohol and expecting the drink culture to suddenly change overnight?
Either they're thick, working directly for the publicans, or both.
IF it is true that he made a comment about the price of a pint, well...

I would also like to state that I am almost entirely a non drinker and I hate the drinking culture.

A Disgrace

bluewolf wrote: »

IF it is true that he made a comment about the price of a pint, well...

He did

Sunnyisland

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

but price is not the solution, all stick and no carrot and a catchall that punishes everyone.
Education and much much better and stricter enforcement of current laws is what's needed. Why should I have to pay through the roof for a few beers because a minority group of people are unable to control themselves when it comes to drink.

When it comes to underage drinking there is little enforcement and little consequence, the worst that happen is the Gardai will pour the drink out in front of you and drag you home, nothing else is done and the same story is repeated the next weekend. Put consequences against it, a couple of hours community service cleaning up the streets. Drunk in public (as an adult) is the same, told to go home, maybe locked up for a few hours to cool off, little more.

Combine that with better education of that whole subject, why we have such a culture, the drawbacks, how other countries effectively deal with it, the damage alcohol can do etc etc etc.
A cultural change to alcohol is needed in Ireland and price is not going to be the point that'll change it, nor is restricting supply.

I was going to say that

Hotblack Desiato

mvt wrote: »

The idea behind setting a minimum price for alcohol is an attempt to stem,or restrict,the flow of alcohol to underage

Rubbish. It will have no effect on underage drinking, how can it when it targets all ages equally?

and those adversely affected by alcohol,alcoholics and those living on the margins of society.

That's amazingly ignorant. There are alcoholics and problem drinkers in all walks of life. Some are homeless, some are millionaires - but presumably it's OK for the well-off to continue to drink to excess as a price increase is irrelevant to them? This stinks of social engineering of the worst sort, 'we know what's good for the lower orders in society', 120 years ago you could say that with a straight face (and at least be honest as to one's motives) but now people like our esteemed Mayor have to sugar-coat their contempt for those less well off than themselves with concern for 'public health'

The motivation for this has come from public health officials in the UK and other countries.

The UK is still getting over a very nasty period of New Labour government best summed up as 'we know what's best for you', I would be very slow to take social cues from that sort of thinking.

The idea is possibly a misguided one but at least the sentiment behind it is good-concerned people,like Andrew Montegue,trying to help

People like him think that if only everyone was like them we'd all be fine. We're not, and don't all want to be, his attitude is typical of the more extreme green / socialist types who think they know what is best for everyone else and in some cases are prepared to go to any length to impose what they think is 'correct' behaviour on everyone else. As far as I am concerned he can shove it, along with his silly 30km/h limit.

Unlike the large supermarket chains and conglomerates who don't care about the effects of their policies.

If only we didn't have large businesses oppressing us, we could pay twice as much for everything to small businesses, but think of how much happier we'd be :rolleyes:
Unfortunately this is another typical soft-left attitude which sounds nice but doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

I don't know what the answer is.Enforcement of the existing laws don't seem to work.

Enforcement of the existing laws has never really been tried. As others have said, the vast majority of people cause no hassle to others, it's the small minority who cause all the problems and yet it's everyone else who ends up being punished with high alcohol taxes, silly licensing laws, etc.

Maybe some of the other posters could take a minute to understand the rationale behind the policy and then offer some constructive criticism?

His rationale is obvious : social control and more power for himself, no doubt he'll be running in the next Dail election...

Phenomenally Phrank

**** him, he's a phony asshat. As if he or the rest of the ***** in leinster house give two ****s about people's health. It's just another way of getting money from the taxpayer so they can squander it into some black hole.Read between the lines of what he said. It's all about money, that's it.

Dyr

Alexandra Tall Bump wrote: »

And this is all brought to you by the same f*cking genius who brought in the 30kms speed limit in Dublin City centre.

To put it nicely, the guy is away with the bloody fairies.

Back when BRL were demolishing a tower in ballymun from 12pm to 7am every night, this guy showed up in the local paper, wearing his councilor hat, justifying keeping people awake all night. Oddly enough, he never mentioned that he was also on the board of directors of BRL. Class act alright. :rolleyes:

amacachi

bluewolf wrote: »

I understand it just fine. Publican work.
On a side note, insanity is often said to be doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Constantly putting up the prices of cigs and alcohol and expecting the drink culture to suddenly change overnight?
Either they're thick, working directly for the publicans, or both.
IF it is true that he made a comment about the price of a pint, well...

I would also like to state that I am almost entirely a non drinker and I hate the drinking culture.

Just since you mentioned smoking I'm almost sure that despite the price of fags going up by a good 60%+ since the start of the century in this country the number of smokers has actually risen. It's almost like the government don't care...

Keith186

http://www.labour.ie/andrewmontague/biography.html

Other Interests:

More affordable housing for Dubliners

You forgot to include 'More expensive booze for Dubliners'