Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

Pint glass ?????

The source was named in the article. You can see the references [x] from Page 202 onwards. This is [10] as an example:

10 Central Statistic Office. CSO population 2022 Census. https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/
population/censusofpopulation2022/censusofpopulation2022-summaryresults/
(accessed 4 Jul 2023).

https://www.hrb.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/HRB_Alcohol_Overview_Series_13.pdf

3.1 Per capita alcohol consumption.

A total of 42,266,785 litres of pure alcohol was sold for consumption in Ireland in 2023. This
is then divided by the number of people aged 15 years and over in the population, which was
4,270,000 in 2023 according to CSO estimates [10]. This means that per capita alcohol use
in Ireland in 2023 was 9.9 litres of pure alcohol per person aged 15 years and over, a 2.9%
decrease from 2022, (based on 2022 population estimates).

Because per capita alcohol consumption is based on all adults aged 15 years and over in
Ireland, this rate of consumption includes those who abstain from consuming alcohol. Data
from the 2023 Healthy Ireland Survey indicate that 30% of adults in Ireland aged 15 years and
over had not consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months [3]. When abstainers (n=1,281,000
according to the 2023 Healthy Ireland Survey) are excluded, alcohol consumption among
drinkers aged 15 years and over increases to 14.1 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2023.
This is considerably more than the Department of Health’s stated aim to reduce per capita
alcohol consumption in Ireland to 9.1 litres.

Globally, up to one-quarter of alcohol use is not officially recorded [11]. A study of 25,728
respondents from 33 European countries (including Ireland) was carried out in 2021 in order
to establish the prevalence of unrecorded alcohol use. The study found that seven countries
(including Ireland) had high levels of unrecorded alcohol use, with 11.3% of per capita alcohol
use in Ireland estimated as being unrecorded. Ireland was above the European average for
unrecorded alcohol use among male drinkers (14.2% compared with the European average
of 13.9%). Females’ unrecorded alcohol use was noted as 7.9% in Ireland (compared with the European average of 9.9%). The study concludes that when unrecorded alcohol use is considered along with Revenue figures, the true rate of per capita alcohol consumption is substantially higher than what is officially reported [12].

Sadly the story of MUP is full of folk like your dad.

Doing no harm to anyone, enjoying a few drinks in their own way.

Make no mistake, the promotors of MUP knew people like your dad would suffer for their experiment.

They didn't care though, they were blinded by the idea that increasing the price of drink would improve outcomes for those who drink excessively.

Everyone else was just collateral damage.

I'm certainly not going soft on MUP.

I hate it as much as I did when I first heard of the idea years ago.

When I mentioned promoters of MUP I was referring to the medics and campaigning groups like AAI.

At least, wrong as they were, they appeared to believe that MUP would deliver some health benefits.

But how the politicians swallowed the nonsense and it got cross party support still amazes me.

I don't know how public representatives could keep a straight face sitting across the table from publican and off licence lobbying organisations extolling the health benefits of MUP.

How could all the parties opposition and government alike fail to detect what you correctly describe as naked commercial self interest ?

Should appeal then to drinkers of Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Rockshore, Carling, Heineken, etc etc etc

Bland and flavourless is what the market wants. It's stuff that actually has a flavour that's a harder sell.