Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

@Leroy42 as VinLieger pointed out, this is the nonsense:

Also the likes of AAI were spouting in support of MUP that Ireland was awash with cheap alcohol while we were already one of the most expensive countries in Europe and that our drinking problem was getting worse while our consumption figures had been on a steady measured decline for a decade at the time. They quite simply lied to push their what ultimately amounts to a prohibitionist agenda and quite simply prohibition doesn't work, we saw that in the US in the 1920s and we see it everyday on our streets and around the world with the so called "war on drugs".

Lying to the politicians and the public who fund them, in order to get their agenda legislated for.

What do you reckon AAI's ultimate goal is?

Why should they be funded with taxpayers' money to lobby for laws that taxpayers don't want?

Why wouldn't they support it? It greatly boosts their profits. They know their competitors (whether other supermarkets, or independent offies) can't undercut them - so in effect there is no competition at all

If one of the multiples was doing cheap slab offers at Christmas then they all felt obliged to join in. But if no-one can, then happy days for the all of the supermarkets as they won't lose market share by selling at a much higher price. Their so-called "competitors" are all forced to sell at that price too.

Businesses never pass up the opportunity to form a cartel when the chance arises. MUP is nothing other than a state-enforced cartel.

A cartel is a conspiracy to sell goods at an inflated price, not a reduced or even below cost one

Why would it hit sales (outside of the loss-leader period, which they weren't making money on)? You can get your beer for the week same time as doing the grocery shopping, same price as anywhere else, no need to go off to the off-licence unless they have a better selection - many of them don't. Remember the cheap offers were only for a few weeks, for the rest of the year there was the ability to compete on price while still making a profit. Now they're forced to sell at a price level which is higher again. €€€€

MUP was brought in to tackle below cost selling.

Don't recall ever hearing that officially mentioned as a justification.

Below cost selling was once banned without MUP, and could be again if MUP was removed.

But apart from (probably) the big reductions on Xmas slabs, it's likely that very little was below cost.

The president can do the square root of fúck all for the Palestinians or animals 🙄

There is no political opposition to MUP.

Just think about that for a minute.

In a parliament where everything is argued over time and again the one thing they all agreed on was more expensive drink.