Masses of Irish students are likely to stock up on as much cheap booze as they can in the coming months, because the days of knock-down alcohol prices will soon be at an end.
In an effort to eradicate the culture of binge drinking in Ireland and to reduce the massive cost that alcohol abuse causes in terms of illness, crime, and absenteeism from work, junior health minister Róisín Shorthall is to include minimum health price laws in a new public health bill this year.
As a result, gone will be the days when you could pick up a crate of beer, or a naggin of spirits from the loose change in your pocket.
Shorthall had first indicated her intention to raise the cost of alcohol late last year and is now stepping up her efforts, proposing a 55 cent per unit “floor” for alcohol which would mean that the price of the cheapest cans of beer would be doubled and that the price of own-branded vodka would be increased by €4.
Under the proposal, a 500ml can of beer could be bought for no cheaper than €1.10, a standard bottle of vodka for no less than €15.40 and bottles of red and white wine for no less than €4.40 and €3.60 respectively (white wine having a lower alcohol content).
Shorthall is quoted in the Sunday Times today saying it was “crazy” that you could buy a “slab of beer” or a bottle of vodka for as little as €12.
“This is pocket money and it means kids have easy access to large volumes which they just can’t handle, so we need to address that,” she said.
“It is a huge problem and I think people can recognise that, and I am hoping we can address it by way of minimum pricing. There are 2,000 hospital beds occupied on any one night by people with alcohol-related illness.”
Shorthall is following the example set recently in Scotland, where a “floor” of 45p per unit of alcohol was introduced last November. News of the increases will come as a shock to home-drinkers everywhere, but Shorthall is insistent that it is all for the greater good and that we should be serious about changing our drinking habits.
“This isn’t about being anti-alcohol,” she added.
“I enjoy a glass of wine, I enjoy a beer myself. It is about facing up to the problems that alcohol causes”.
Shorthall is due to engage in discussions with alcohol misuse groups and an Oireachtas health committee on the potential changes in the coming weeks, before seeking the support of all the parties in government.
It looks as if will be a few months at least before any potential measures are introduced, but the sight of Dutch Gold pyramids in the sitting rooms of young college-goers across the country could soon be a thing of the past.
