Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

Reputable Rog

reland will not be able to make the bill law until July 20 at the earliest to allow member states time to discuss the bill and to prevent the adoption of a law that could be incompatible with EU rules. Denmark, France, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and the EU Commission also commented on the bill. Italy’s and Portugal’s objections have not been published but relate to cases where a law “may create obstacles to the free movement of goods”.

Objections were also issued by international industry bodies including Spirits Canada and New Zealand Wine Growers. The office of the United States Trade Representative, an agency responsible for recommending policy to the US president, warned that the bill could result in additional administrative costs and could have a negative impact on American exporters in the European market. It said in a report published last month that the US has asked Ireland to notify the World Trade Organisation of the new amendments for cancer warnings and labelling.

Eunan McKinney, of Alcohol Action Ireland, a government-funded charity, said he remained confident that the bill would be accepted. He added: “Ireland’s endeavour to enact the bill is being undertaken on the evidence of a growing public health crisis where data demonstrates an upward trend, with 900 people annually being diagnosed with alcohol-related cancers and three deaths a day attributable to alcohol.”


Prior to the new amendments, Ireland was warned by 14 member states that the alcohol bill could be in breach of EU law. The countries said the bill was a disproportionate response to alcohol misuse that would damage trade and discriminate against new products entering the Irish market. They expressed scepticism that it would achieve its aim of reducing alcohol consumption and questioned why less restrictive measures were rejected. Some said alcohol consumption in itself does not automatically present a danger to moderate and responsible consumers.

The alcohol bill was introduced in 2015 by Leo Varadkar, the health minister at the time. A HSE report last week said the effects of other people’s drinking on family and friends in Ireland cost the state €873 million a year.

This bill is all but dead I reckon. The Scottish law will fail as well as people will just cross into England and buy their drink there.

KrustyUCC

I hope your are right but I'm not sure the countries and the Commission will actually block the bill when it comes to it

Reputable Rog

KrustyUCC wrote: »

I hope your are right but I'm not sure the countries and the Commission will actually block the bill when it comes to it

If it was France or Germany or even the UK that might be the case, however this is Ireland, if the commission don't like it then Ireland won't enact it.

KrustyUCC

we'll see

Leo has a hue amount of political capital in this bill as he was the one to first introduce it

hatrickpatrick

KrustyUCC wrote: »

we'll see

Leo has a hue amount of political capital in this bill as he was the one to first introduce it

The one thing to remember here is that it's only passed the second stage in the Dáil - it still has to go through committee stage which can take a long time. If they can't even discuss it again until July at the earliest, we could well be heading into election season at that time, depending on when FF decide to pull the plug.

A week is a long time in politics generally, but in Ireland's current political climate it's an age. Personally I sincerely hope the era of ambiguous election results and whip-free minority governments in the Dáil is here to stay for a long, long time. This legislation would almost certainly have been passed by now if we had a majority government which shuts down debate in the Dáil the way the previous FG/Lab government always did.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Can you imagine being in the off licence trade in one of Scotland's border areas with England.

Your business has just been destroyed overnight.

KrustyUCC

Ah sure that's for the greater good

Reputable Rog

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Can you imagine being in the off licence trade in one of Scotland's border areas with England.

Your business has just been destroyed overnight.

Especially when English off licences in the border area have openly said that they are going to slash prices in this region and ramp up advertising.
Anyhow the new Sainsbury's/Asda conglomerate will further reduce prices and the effect on the border area will decimate off sales in our own border area.

KrustyUCC

It's spreading

https://www.thelocal.de/20180504/experts-demand-that-germans-learn-how-to-drink-from-scotland

Hector Bellend

Few pints and a ****.

Sure it'll be grand.

When my oul lad was drinking back in the 80's the stance was if drink ever goes over a pound a pint then everyone in Ireland was going to join the pioneers.

Similarly with cigarettes, this will make bollcks all difference and problem drinkers will still problem drink.

Capt'n Midnight

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I heard this morning that the price of a bottle of vodka in Scotland will go from 10 to 13 pounds

that will put an end to problem drinking alright

how much will Buckfast go up by ?

ohnonotgmail

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

how much will Buckfast go up by ?

0. It is already above the MUP.

Capt'n Midnight

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

0. It is already above the MUP.

So this measure could mean some people may migrate to the ol' commotion lotion as the price differential drops.

ohnonotgmail

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

So this measure could mean some people may migrate to the ol' commotion lotion as the price differential drops.

quite possibly. this graphic gives an idea of what is really affected.



It makes no sense to me given the problems caused by buckie in scotland.

ohnonotgmail

to give some idea of the problems caused by buckie in scotland

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/england-gets-taste-buckfast-fortified-wine-linked-crime/

Buckfast is especially popular in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, with one popular theory citing its similarity to communion wine as the reason Celtic fans began drinking it in the 1970s. In 2015 the Scottish Prison Service reported that over 43pc of inmates drank Buckfast before their previous offence, despite the fortified wine making up only 1pc of all alcohol sales nationally.

hatrickpatrick

This passed committee stage in the Dáil in one day today. Looks like nobody put in any discussion or objections, so they just raced through the bill and passed it without amendment. Not much news about it either.

It now moves on to stage four - this could be bad news as without any significant amendments, it won't have to go back to the Seanad and will end up becoming law immediately after stages four and five in the Dáil which are likely to be concluded quickly enough.

Are we out of time for lobbying against this BS, or is there still scope for it to be blocked or delayed?

VinLieger

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Are we out of time for lobbying against this BS, or is there still scope for it to be blocked or delayed?

There is no lobby against it, not enough people will care about it until its passed through and they see the new prices for real on the shelves

super_furry

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/new-figures-suggest-alcohol-consumption-in-ireland-continues-to-decline-831208.html

"According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), alcohol consumption in Ireland has fallen by 25 per cent since 2005.

"Additionally, the latest ESPAD report, published in 2016, showed a significant decline in underage alcohol consumption, with Ireland moving from 8th to 28th out of 33 countries analysed over the course of the study."


Alcohol consumption in Ireland has been in decline for years now. This is all about appeasing the Vintner's Federation who are seeing fewer and fewer people come through their pub doors.

elperello

This will end up costing even a modest home drinking couple ie. bottle of wine and ten cans per week, more than Irish Water and there is not a peep about it.

hatrickpatrick

Aaaaaand Diageo are about to raise the price of a pint by 5c.

https://www.buzz.ie/news/price-of-a-pint-289470

The firm says this is due to the "rising costs of doing business in Ireland".

"This increase is in line with current inflation trends and it is necessary to ensure we can continue to make significant investments in our business and in the wider hospitality sector."

It'll be delayed until the northern Ireland assembly is back up and running, and at this rate, Britain will have Brexited by the time that happens.

I wonder how the EU would feel about that sort of cross border coordination when NI isn't in the EU? All that can save us now really is Brussels.

zlubber

the dole is to high, no politician will say so , therefore it wont be cut
people can live a life of drunkenness on the dole at the moment
beer cans are cheap
raise the price but keep the dole the same
see this people get work pretty quickly

the price of beer cans is to raise to get people of the dole, simple really

Mike Hoch

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Aaaaaand Diageo are about to raise the price of a pint by 5c.

https://www.buzz.ie/news/price-of-a-pint-289470

And yet you can get a pint of (presumably imported) Fosters for 2.50 some nights in Spoons. 2.95 regular price I think.

Cowboys Ted.

cadaliac

It's not just beer cans...
it will effect home drinking. It will affect everyone.

Checkmate19

Just a ploy to get people back to pubs nothing else. Fine Gael helping their publican mates. No fear politicians suffering sure some where nit settling their tabs till on recently.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Just 10euro worth of alcohol could kill you!

One of these anti competition advocates visited a supermarket and came to this conclusion from studying the drink selection. Then a rag publishes it.

They really are something else.

KrustyUCC

Yeah apparently that proves that we need to increases prices despite having some of the most expensive alcohol in Europe as it is

http://www.thejournal.ie/alcohol-prices-ireland-4171223-Aug2018/

Some of the comments are brilliant

You can get a fatal level of toilet duck for €1, it doesn’t mean people are out to drink it all in one night though.

You can get a knife for a few quid and stab yourself to death. We NEED minimum knife pricing NOW!

You can buy a length of rope for a fiver and a hell of a lot of ppl die from suicide but I don’t see as much interest in a “rope tax”, or ya know.. investment in mental health. Just because we can buy something does not mean we will use it incorrectly. Alcohol is sold to adults, who mostly make adult decisions!!

A fatal level of alcohol can be bought for €10. In France a fatal level of alcohol can be bought for €5. Are alcohol fatalities twice as high in France? If not, then perhaps this information isn’t as useful as it first appears. Perhaps there’s some other factor at work.

Can buy a sharp knife for less than half that… are we supposed to limit that in case some people abuse them?

suicide_circus

just another symptom of too much government. grown adults having their liberty peeled away by the state.

gctest50

KrustyUCC wrote: »

Yeah apparently that proves that we need to increases prices despite having some of the most expensive alcohol in Europe as it is

http://www.thejournal.ie/alcohol-prices-ireland-4171223-Aug2018/

Some of the comments are brilliant

............

Alcohol Action Ireland ? another charidee the HSE are pouring money into - looks good i suppose - meanwhile kids are drowning/hanging themselves



http://alcoholireland.ie/about/funders/

and the 1 shower too :

Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its finances after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy.

The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6million in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent).

The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1million went towards paying salaries

gctest50

Anyway, you'll get dementia if you don't drink :


Alcohol consumption and risk of dementia: 23 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study

https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k2927