Alcohol Warning Labels

Blisterman

So apparently new labels coming in next year will need all alcohol products to have bespoke labels with the Calorie and Grammes of Alcohol on them. Retailers are sounding the alarm that they'll have to stop selling a large amount of the imported products they sell.

https://www.irishtimes.com/food/2025/02/16/i-will-lose-30-of-the-beers-in-my-fridge-the-same-with-wine-and-spirits-traders-voice-fears-over-alcohol-health-warning-labels/

This would be a disaster for anyone who enjoys products from small producers who aren't going to make Ireland specific labels.

Is there anything that can be done to stop this? At the very least remove the requirement for the labels to be bespoke to each product, so just a generic sticker could be added, like you see with the Return scheme?

BeerNut

The bill was introduced in 2015 and passed in 2018: that was the time to fight it. Not that there was much chance of it being stopped back then, but there's none now.

omicron

Every other food product has to list this anyway, don't see this issue.

If you import a niche food product to sell you have to ensure it meets labelling requirements in Ireland before you can sell it, there's no reason for alcohol to be different.

It will take a minor amount of work for importers and distributers.

I might just start hitting the injection centre instead

Insect Overlord

Grow up, t'fūck. 🙄

Atlantic Dawn

I wonder will pubs be riddled with similar warnings on display 🤔

LambshankRedemption

This makes about as much sense as the "This website uses cookies" warning we all know and love.

"Warning: this product has alcohol in it".

Well no **** Sherlock!

elperello

We should have waited for the EU to move first and then followed on with the rest.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179113#Comment_123179113

Go and have a few beers.

Dayor Knight

Can't believe the big deal being made out if this. How hard can it be to put sticky labels on bottles….

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179118#Comment_123179118

The cnuts should be. They should have to plaster it on every glass and bar tap. Its their doing. And they use the scumbags in AAI as a trojan horse.

**** kip.

Odelay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123178861#Comment_123178861

A. your "quote" from Hitler never happened.

Adolf Hitler on How to 'Take Control Over a People' | Snopes.com

B. Do you really think the country is turning into a dictatorship? If so, best option is to get out now.

Gusser09

Shameful what country has become.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179118#Comment_123179118

That's literally the next thing the Act says, after the labelling rule. It's due to come into effect the same day.

(4) The holder of a licence shall, in the prescribed manner, inside the premises to which the licence concerned relates, display a notice or notices in the prescribed form, which shall include in the prescribed form, in both the English and Irish language—
(a) a warning that is intended to inform the public of the danger of alcohol consumption,
(b) a warning that is intended to inform the public of the danger of alcohol consumption when pregnant,
(c) a warning that is intended to inform the public of the direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers,
(d) details of a website, to be established and maintained by the Executive, providing public health information in relation to alcohol consumption, and
(e) confirmation that a document specifying the matters set out in subsection (7)(a) is available for inspection on request at the premises concerned.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179860#Comment_123179860

Krombacher, Bitburger, Warsteiner etc won't export to Ireland anymore. Back to having to drink coors or heineken. FFS. Europe is a disaster when countries can go on a solo run and do these things. We don't really have a single market. Only when it suits certain cohorts. VRT and MUP and now this absolute crap.

Look it's a great idea as long as the pubs have to implement it too. It makes no sense that the cans have to carry this nonsense and the pubs get away with it. they should be made to carry unbranded generic glasses with big dirty bloated livers on them.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179871#Comment_123179871

Off licences do have to do the same.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179890#Comment_123179890

You can start early if you like, and report all the ones that don't have their legally required pricelist on display.

Atlantic Dawn

Im convinced this AAI crowd go on a 4 day bender once a year to come up with lunatic ideas they can sell to the government to justify their existence.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179930#Comment_123179930

And they only seem to be targeting the home drinker. After this comes in I am 100 percent investing in my own kegerator system. Can't be suffering these **** idiots on a friday night have a few beers after working all week.

Unfortunately we aren't organised. You can imagine the unrest in France if their government tried to implement this shite on a bottle of wine. We really needed a lobby group to act on behalf on the home consumer here.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179944#Comment_123179944

Because it's intended to catch people when they're drinking, as well as when they're purchasing. In the pub those are both done at the same time; in off licences they're separate. And there's no need to be rude.

Gusser09

I go up the north the odd time and pick up some booze. Now I won't be just doing it for bargains but for beers that won't be stocked in Ireland anymore.

Surely there could be legislation that anything produced in Ireland had to carry the labeling and anything imported does not.

For example, will Irish Whiskeys exported have to carry these warnings? Or is it just for the children of Ireland to endure? A bit hypocritical really.

Gary_dunne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179918#Comment_123179918

You don't drink so don't be worrying about it, it's not going to affect you.

You're making assumptions and asserting them as if they are facts, any proof that the small breweries will leave along with Erdinger?

If you hate the country so much, there's plenty more out there for you to choose from.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179985#Comment_123179985

Absolutely. And it's vital that we plaster these labels on our prized exported Irish Whiskey such as Jameson and Powers. We need to show the world how good we are.

Blisterman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123178735#Comment_123178735

But surely there's still time to alter the labels, so that at the very least, they don't have to be custom made for each beer. And they can have a standardised label that importers can stick on everything. Same as currently happens with a lot of the return labels?

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123180087#Comment_123180087

You're missing the point. Publicans and AAI want to make it as unpleasant as possible for punters to have a few beers at home. That's the goal here.

You are talking common sense and that doesn't enter the equation. This nonsense should be limited to Irish produced drinks. Imports from Europes should be exempt under Eu regulations.

As I've alluded to. You will go into Tesco and buy a bottle of Jemmy with a dirty nasty label on it. You can then buy exactly the same bottle in Spain for a fraction of the price without any silly labeling on it. Go figure.

I'm all for it as long as generic pint glasses are legislated for in pubs and labels plastered on them. Also all beer taps should have generic labels on them with only the name of the beer you are buying.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123180087#Comment_123180087

Not with this requirement on the books:

(iv) the quantity in grams of alcohol contained in the container concerned,

(v) the energy value expressed in kilojoules and kilocalories contained in the container concerned

You'd have have to re-do the legislation, and nobody is up for that. The lack of political resistance to the bill in the run-up to its passing was disheartening.

redshift-rider

Alcohol consumption has been coming down by itself. Even during the time when it was supposedly 'way too cheap' in supermarkets, it was coming down year on year.

These nonsense regulations are so politicians with no career achievements can point to the naturally declining consumption and claim to have played a role in it.

MUP and the can tax have already resulted in some products disappearing off shelves or being priced way too high. Now this. One retailer is saying he's going to lose 30% of his beer inventory when this rubbish comes in. A sad state of affairs.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179933#Comment_123179933

What?

Since when?

The rules have always been 120 bottles per person in the car, I thought? And even then, they'll let you bring more if you can demonstrate that it's for personal use (e.g. an upcoming wedding).

boardsdotie44

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179985#Comment_123179985

Yeah was thinking exactly the same when I read his post!

Weird logic there, unless pubs have to post it all over the place, so you cant help but see it when sitting down having your pint!

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123180075#Comment_123180075

It will apply to all whiskey sold in ROI no matter where it's distilled.

There will still be an effect on the image of our whiskey though.

Ours will carry cancer warning on its home market.

At least duty free will probably be exempt.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123180564#Comment_123180564

As I understand it this new labelling only applies to drinks sold in ROI.

Irish companies exporting will only have to comply with local laws in the country they are selling to.

It's still not a good look when visitors come here to find that brands they may have enjoyed at home are labelled as a cancer risk in their country of origin.

Gusser09

It's a hypocrisy isn't it? Plaster them all over products sold in Ireland but export the same products without the labels. Madness. We should look to be a leading light on this. So what if it kills exports in the industry. At least we won't be poisoning unsuspecting customers in non Irish markets.

One **** rule for the Irish public and one for the rest of Europe. We are a nanny state and have been for a long time.