Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

AndrewJRenko

I agree because we have drinking problems in Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118428926#Comment_118428926

I do drink alcohol, but your "neo prohibitionist nanny state" stuff is just slightly over the top.. It is standard medical advice that there is no safe level of alcohol when it comes to your health. That's the science.

AndrewJRenko

I agree because we have drinking problems in Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118429797#Comment_118429797

Do you put any value on your own time? If you include your own time even at minimum wage, the savings are fairly petty.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430730#Comment_118430730

Anyways

A bottle of heineken in asda xan be got for as little as 58cent.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430799#Comment_118430799

Haha. Feck sake.

AndrewJRenko

I agree because we have drinking problems in Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430419#Comment_118430419

Try asking your doctor if that is a perfectly healthy level of alcohol consumption. You might be in for a shock.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430819#Comment_118430819

For Dublin etc people, Asda Portadown is probably the handiest.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430766#Comment_118430766

Is the the science or is this the lancet study which was quite uncompromising and fails to demonstrate the positives of some level of alcohol intake.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430847#Comment_118430847

I might be. But my doctor certainly doesnt think its overly harmful. I run 10km 3 times a week. Dont smoke. Good diet. BP good as is cholesterol etc.

Its not about that anyway.

I think we all know if we were to only drink in pubs and not buy in off lincences then mup wouldnt be a thing.

macraignil

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430575#Comment_118430575

The current government does not care about ruining the enjoyment of ordinary working people in my opnion as it thinks it can keep enough votes to stay in power by claiming the higher moral ground. The incompetent opposition parties have helped with daft policies to alienate others and with this legislation failed to even stand up for lower waged workers who at times they claim to represent.

It has touched a nerve not like you and AAI would claim because there is such a big problem with alcohol but because it is simply wrong to make life harder for people on lower incomes with legislation that has in other places proved to be so useless. The figures from Scotland show record levels of drug related deaths and deaths from alcohol in years since MUP has been in force there yet you still seem to think that somehow price is such a magical tipping point in stopping people with addiction problems from abusing substances.

The issue with advertising that I found objectionable is that it took away funding for sports from competitions like the Heineken cup in rugby. The issue with warning labels for me is that it prohibits smaller brands of alcohol from entering the Irish market as they simply can't afford the extra administration costs of specific labels for products with limited volumes of sales here.

Alcohol consumption has already been going down here in recent years yet AAI and yourself still claim it to be a massive problem that the nanny state needs to clamp down on. Will be setting up the home brew system myself as I live a good distance from the North but am not ruling out a couple of trips to stock up on more reasonable priced products there. The last thing I'd like to say is that MUP is an extremely unfair and discriminatory bit of legislation and I hope someone in future sees sense and gets it removed from the rules of this country where the costs of living have already been allowed get too high in so many areas.

dxhound2005

Those figures from Scotland did not come from any research into MUP there. You can find that research on the internet.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430849#Comment_118430849

Again its as long as it is short.

fritzelly

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430666#Comment_118430666

He was the same muppet that was on VM last night - spouting absolute dribble like after 2 weeks no one will be crossing the border anymore and it won't affect lower pay people

The ex alcoholic was excellent with his points and the student, but the same muppet again spouting the same absolute shoite, had an air of a politician about him

Has any politician been interviewed about this or is it all been directed to AAI

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430766#Comment_118430766

There's medical advice and there's the government dictating how much things cost in shops. We all know the damage alcohol CAN do, the majority of the population understand this. But as usual the government's approach is to punish everyone. I mean even the timing...with the pubs closing at bloody 8 o clock. Its like they're trying to suck every inch of joy out of life. For me it absolutely grinds my gears to no end doing 12 hour shifts as a Frontline worker and not being able to go for something as simple as a fûcking pint after work.

dxhound2005

Not everyone is being punished. About 20% of adults do not drink.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430649#Comment_118430649

That was my point everything is more expensive but we get paid more which is why its not worth comparing price between the two

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430958#Comment_118430958

Thats not really relevant. They dont drink. So lower or higher prices have no impact on them at all.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430963#Comment_118430963

But I think they are getting included in the population count that people are expecting to go to the North for drink. Also children are being included.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430666#Comment_118430666

This policy was well known before the last election so people had the chance to vote on it but didnt care enough

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430967#Comment_118430967

They're all the same. It really doesn't matter who's in power. Right now we've an unelected government ran by a bunch of lads called NPHET.

fritzelly

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430967#Comment_118430967

Who in Ireland reads every parties manifesto (and believes half of it) and where in the manifesto does it say we're gonna screw you with the price

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430984#Comment_118430984

So you think we should have a referendum on every little thing then?

fritzelly

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430989#Comment_118430989

What's a referendum got to do with it???

Should have been more consultation than with a government sponsored "charity"

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430984#Comment_118430984

What else can the parties do except publish it and ask the people for their votes? This was in the FG 2016 manifesto, and true to their word they introduced the legislation in 2018.

4. Improving the Health and Wellbeing of the Nation Healthy Ireland: We will pursue the Healthy Ireland and HSE Health and Well-being programmes, supported by increased annual budgets. Alcohol Misuse: We will enact the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, with a full review 3 years post implementation to consider additional measures to further tackle excess alcohol consumption and misuse.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430995#Comment_118430995

Try reading the post I was replying to

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sure as **** didn’t see alcohol action Ireland on the ballot in the last election, i sure as **** didn’t vote or get to give my consensus as a citizen on a public health topic as sensitive as alcohol and addiction

I swear I am anti MUP until I come on to this thread but then listening to all this BS about 2 million people going up north, the nanny state or the doctor that thinks 30+ pints over 3 days is grand is making it hard to side with the other anti MUP people. And shure now we have the unelected NEPHT clown posts and the "ordinary working people" peddlers too.

fritzelly

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431011#Comment_118431011

They also said they were doing it to help the bars - so what? Where does it say goodbye to your holiday specials, its gonna be more than double the price?

Name a time when a party has not broken one of their pledges - manifesto's are nothing more than vote getters for the bits people agree with

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431023#Comment_118431023

Next time round read the manifestos.

Alcohol Use Disorder is a massive issue, a progressive fatal disease of the affected individual does not decide to undertake a difficult prolonged course of rehabilitation. It’s one of the most destructive illnesses that one can witness which destroys the individual’s life in every single aspect. Access to treatment by anybody wishing to undertake that should be provided without recourse to any more personal financial resources than that applicable to any other health issue.

I do believe that some bit of tax from alcohol could be to ring-fenced to provide rehabilitation services for those who might opt for it, and for a campaign that encourages those addicted to consider the future possibility of making a decision to get sober with the help of resources. It could also fund education to inform children & young people just how addiction can creep in and how it happens that the nervous system fights against the effects of alcohol so that it is in hyper-drive when the nerve-dampening substance is withdrawn after a long time of habituation.

But the present situation is one of forcing those in addiction to spend even more money of alcohol, leading to further worsening of finances, failure to provide for any dependents, and even less spent on nutrition that could lessen the effects on ongoing progressive brain damage from micro-bleeds due to the small blood vessels losing their structural proteins. I don’t think many people really understand the whole nature of a disease which directly affects about 5% of the (US) population, and indirectly affects a hell of a lot more, including their families.

Ireland has quite a genepool of addiction, but reading about it the simple habit of even reluctantly taking more than one might intend on too frequent a basis can lead to physical dependence with the full gamut of withdrawal, including delirium tremens, liver destruction, Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome (brain damage from micro-bleeds due to thiamine deficiency, and Alcoholic Ketoacidosis which causes complete suppression of appetite, destructive personality changes, and can lead to rapid fatal cardiac arrhythmia. This was well studied in Japan during the 70s & 80s where businessmen, who didn’t even enjoy alcohol, gave into social pressure at meetings to imbibe as this was the way business was done; many ended up being h physically addicted, and of course that eventually leads to a craving for a constant supply just to feel ok. It was determined these people had no such thing as a family background of addiction, and it was the mere social pressure that led to the addiction.

So anybody can potentially become addicted, but those with particular genes do so more quickly.

Mental Health is a disgracefully abandoned area in Ireland, limited access treatment facilities being left in the hands of the religious, or expensive private facilities.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431046#Comment_118431046

Just on the last paragraph sorry but its just wrong. Ireland is full of state funded HSE mental health facilities with everything from long to short term wards, residential units and houses, clinics, day centres and community hubs, high observation units which all deal with a wide spectrum of mental health disorders. Most people are living right by them but dont even know they are there because they for the most part are not the old style gigantic horror movie looking hospitals and dont advertise themselves with big signs the way a church or charity does

joeysoap

I disagree, the "drinking problems" are myths from the government.

Most people will just go down to Newry once or twice a year and stock up. (For themselves and family members/ friends etc) while there they will also shop. FWIW there’s an off licence in carrickasticken ( 4 or so miles from Dundalk. At least 3 in Culloville and one in Jonesboro) but most Dubs I expect will head for Newry for shopping ( for a day) to make it more worthwhile.

Atlantic Dawn

Had to laugh tonight at Prime Time, they were saying antigen tests were going up to €9 a go in some outlets and that the government had the power to restrict how much a test could be sold for but they don't want to do this as it may impact the supply chain. Shower of feckers, clearly a health affordability issue mirroring their moves on alcohol.