Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

Commotion Ocean · 29-11-2016 1:19am #1

The government are set to bring in minimum alcohol pricing.

A slab of 24 cans will have a minimum price of €48 and a bottle of spirits will be a minimum of €28.

Ultimate nanny state bolloxogy and pandering again to the vitners association.

I'm on touch site, so link to follow.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1124/834033-alcohol-research-rcsi/

(Misspelling in the headline ... no surprises coming from that North Korean unionised crap rag anyway.)

This is absolute nonsense in my opinion. Even the cheapest of beers (shop own brand) will have to be sold at €2 per can (1 Euro per unit of alcohol). Naggins will be a minimum of €8, 70cl bottles will be €28, cans of beer €2 and a whopping €40 for a litre of spirits.

We are heading on a slippery slope towards a fascist Nazi-style dictatorship. Ireland is a First World country, I believe in capitalism. If someone over the legal drinking age wants to buy a can of beer at 50 cents and a shop is offering the cans at such a price, then why should a Hitler-style government stop them?

FortySeven · 29-11-2016 1:23am

I doubt the vitners are celebrating. Look what tobacco price hikes have done for smoking.

punisher5112 · 29-11-2016 1:24am

Brings the whole water charge thing into light.

Just because a very small few can't handle their drink shouldn't mean it ruins it for the rest of us.

Up north we go.....

Surreptitious · 29-11-2016 1:26am

Doomed.

london bus 200 · 29-11-2016 1:27am

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

empacher · 29-11-2016 1:28am

^^^^^^^ What this guy said!

Pinch Flat · 29-11-2016 1:30am

london bus 200 wrote: »

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

Nail on the head mate

maudgonner · 29-11-2016 1:30am

Go home to London, bus, you're drunk. (On cheap booze).

Arghus · 29-11-2016 1:32am

london bus 200 wrote: »

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

He's speaking fluent 24 cans there.

Grayson · 29-11-2016 1:43am

I think the guy is talking about refugees. 5 gazillion threads and he gets the one that isn't about muslims.

Commotion Ocean · 29-11-2016 1:49am

london bus 200 wrote: »

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

What ??

FortySeven · 29-11-2016 1:51am

dfeo wrote: »

What ??

Eh?

Atlantic Dawn · 29-11-2016 1:54am

Alcohol in Ireland is one of the most expensive in the EU, making it more expensive will only make the problem worse if you compare the lack of drink problems in countries where drink is a fraction of the cost of here.

29-11-2016 1:58am

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Alcohol in Ireland is one of the most expensive in the EU, making it more expensive will only make the problem worse if you compare the lack of drink problems in countries where drink is a fraction of the cost of here.

The cost wont go up in the Dáil bar me thinks somehow

Zaph · 29-11-2016 2:00am

The poll is flawed as it doesn't cover enough options. As a nation we clearly do have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and how we consume it. Not all of us obviously, but there is a significant portion of the population who do. However I completely refute the suggestion that minimum alcohol pricing is how this issue should be dealt with. Better education regarding alcohol and longer opening hours for pubs so people aren't binge drinking at the end of the night and then all spilling out onto the street at the same time as all the other binge drinkers. The same goes for off licences, there's no logical reason why it should be illegal to purchase alcohol for home consumption while the pubs are still serving.

Commotion Ocean · 29-11-2016 2:02am

Zaph wrote: »

The poll is flawed as it doesn't cover enough options. As a nation we clearly do have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and how we consume it. Not all of us obviously, but there is a significant portion of the population who do. However I completely refute the suggestion that minimum alcohol pricing is how this issue should be dealt with. Better education regarding alcohol and longer opening hours for pubs so people aren't binge drinking at the end of the night and then all spilling out onto the street at the same time as all the other binge drinkers. The same goes for off licences, there's no logical reason why it should be illegal to purchase alcohol for home consumption while the pubs are still serving.

It was just a hastily-made poll. Feel free to edit

Vic_08 · 29-11-2016 2:08am

dfeo wrote: »

The government are set to bring in minimum alcohol pricing.

A slab of 24 cans will have a minimum price of €48 and a bottle of spirits will be a minimum of €28.

Ultimate nanny state bolloxogy and pandering again to the vitners association.

I'm on touch site, so link to follow.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1124/834033-alcohol-research-rcsi/

(Misspelling in the headline ... no surprises coming from that North Korean unionised crap rag anyway.)

This is absolute nonsense in my opinion. Even the cheapest of beers (shop own brand) will have to be sold at €2 per can (1 Euro per unit of alcohol). Naggins will be a minimum of €8, 70cl bottles will be €28, cans of beer €2 and a whopping €40 for a litre of spirits.

We are heading on a slippery slope towards a fascist Nazi-style dictatorship. Ireland is a First World country, I believe in capitalism. If someone over the legal drinking age wants to buy a can of beer at 50 cents and a shop is offering the cans at such a price, then why should a Hitler-style government stop them?

Godwining your own thread, well done.

I was more or less with you until that moronic hyperbole.

Yourself isit · 29-11-2016 2:13am

Of course this is all about the vintners. We really don't have a problem with people drinking at home, the messiness is all about leaving the pubs and clubs. What really annoys me is the tax on wine, I mean let the middle classes have their minor vices.

learn_more · 29-11-2016 2:15am

london bus 200 wrote: »

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

,THEM ABOUT NOHTING KNOW WE AND CITIXENS OF BUNCH A HAVE JUST CANT WE ,FUNTIONS WORLD ENTIRE TEH WAY THE ITS ,WRONG ,COMPLETELY GOT THIS GOT HAVE HAVE I AND ANDU WAY OTHER YHE IT A LOK ,SAY AND AGREE LETS

I've looked at it the other way around and yes it's beginning to make a little more sense now.

entropi · 29-11-2016 2:22am

Although there is certainly a problem with a portion of the population and their ability to control their drinking habits, this is a self-serving exercise and will benefit nobody but vintners. I foresee a repeat of people flocking up North for cheaper alcohol for certain.

Sparks43 · 29-11-2016 2:25am

Person working 40 hours a week on minimum wage fancies a Can of beer €2

TD doing feck all earning 90k plus, fancies a beer €2 (Or gets it free in the dail bar)

Minimum pricing is a terrible idea. Oh dear god lets think of the children merchants thats all this government and hangers on are.

Oh and btw im a fully qualified barman who ended up out of a job not just because of cheap cans but...........................

Greedy vintners/brewers who increased the price of a pint from what was avge €3 when the euro came in to now costing a fiver and maybe more.

Smoking ban didnt help either and that was pushed through same as this will be.

If anyone thinks this will get people back into pubs or even save one life then sadly they are deluded. Its another stage in the FG/FF nanny state agenda.

Nothing more nothing less :mad:

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 29-11-2016 2:31am

It seems in that article that it worked well in Canada, but that's a very different culture and not somewhere where it's so easy (most of the country) to hop over the border and stock up.

There's already a healthy black market in alcohol too. Business will be booming there. I wouldn't often buy a litre of spirits but I will in my hole be paying forty quid for it, usually not worth the bother sourcing it elsewhere but it will be now.

And for the really serious problem drinkers I doubt this'll be a case of "oh I suppose I'll drink less then' so much as 'oh I suppose I'll feed myself/my children less then, step up the ol crime a bit, and then it'll all be fine'.

Ridiculously biased article.

Renegade Mechanic · 29-11-2016 2:34am

london bus 200 wrote: »

LETS AGREE AND SAY, LOK A IT YHE OTHER WAY ANDU AND I HAVE HAVE GOT THIS GOT COMPLETELY, WRONG, ITS THE WAY TEH ENTIRE WORLD FUNTIONS, WE CANT JUST HAVE A BUNCH OF CITIXENS AND WE KNOW NOHTING ABOUT THEM,

THAT SLAB JUST GOT TEN QUID PRICIER.

topmanamillion · 29-11-2016 2:36am

I haven't heard anything about this since the beginning of the year when the EU buried similar plans by Scotland. A quick Google showed that there hasn't been any developments since then.
I envisage this turning out like the majority of bills, it will be a watered down version of what was originally proposed with plenty of loopholes.

Varadeker (when Minister for Health) proposed to ban alcohol advertising in sport. He was quickly met by brewers and the likes of the GAA and told to forget about it as it was too lucrative.

foggy_lad · 29-11-2016 2:39am

Problem drinkers will still drink just as much but they will be experimenting with home brewed shoite and there will be many mass poisonings from home-brew spirits like there is on other third world dictatorships.

Sparks43 · 29-11-2016 2:46am

foggy_lad wrote: »

Problem drinkers will still drink just as much but they will be experimenting with home brewed shoite and there will be many mass poisonings from home-brew spirits like there is on other third world dictatorships.

On the point of homebrew gotta tell this one.

Many years back (over 30) i was staying with my grandparents when late one evening a loud bang came from the kitchen.

Turns out my granddad decided to try making his own stout and sourced the yeast hops malt etc

All a great idea until he decided to chuck the lot into plastic lemonade bottles and seal the bloody things down tight. :eek:

A very fond memory especially seeing my grandmother going bat **** crazy at him.

Renegade Mechanic · 29-11-2016 2:47am

foggy_lad wrote: »

Problem drinkers will still drink just as much but they will be experimenting with home brewed shoite and there will be many mass poisonings from home-brew spirits like there is on other third world dictatorships.

That's going to be hilarious tbh. I can already see people forcing down a concoction that a Trabant would struggle with, because it'll be too expensive to start again

foggy_lad · 29-11-2016 2:53am

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

That's going to be hilarious tbh. I can already see people forcing down a concoction that a Trabant would struggle with, because it'll be too expensive to start again

The biggest problem will be greedy people much like the Vintners selling this moonshine and hooch to people who they know will drink it from a smelly welly but they will be long gone when the hospitals start to fill with the casualties.

Vradkar the prick has got this 150% wrong but he's too ignorant and pig-headed to wind his neck in and let it go!

Shouldn't really expect more from a minister who used his homosexuality to get himself some sympathy when he was going down the drain as minister for health.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 29-11-2016 3:01am

Is my reading comprehension gone or something, if 45℅ of the heaviest drinkers are buying the cheapest alcohol regardless of income, does that not mean that for the majority of the heaviest drinkers price isn't a factor?

It says this'll affect 14℅ of drinkers, presumably the 14℅ on the lowest income ffs.

I'm all for doing something to tackle the damage alcohol does but any ideas that don't have the vintners' interests written all over them don't seem to get far.

This isn't like the smoking ban, where a substance with no earthly benefit which many (even most) users wanted to quit was made more inconvenient to indulge in and easier to stay away from. It's making a substance which is fine in moderation and an important part of the social fabric of adult society more difficult for the poorer members of society to partake in. And a big blow to small businesses.

Renegade Mechanic · 29-11-2016 3:05am

Sariah Bitter Trend wrote: »

Is my reading comprehension gone or something, if 45℅ of the heaviest drinkers are buying the cheapest alcohol regardless of income, does that not mean that for the majority of the heaviest drinkers price isn't a factor?

“If you can't change it, tax it”

suicide_circus · 29-11-2016 6:18am

A can will still be almost three times cheaper than a pint in Dublin city

entropi · 29-11-2016 4:48pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

Problem drinkers will still drink just as much but they will be experimenting with home brewed shoite and there will be many mass poisonings from home-brew spirits like there is on other third world dictatorships.

"Listen, rummy, I'm gonna say it plain and simple. Where'd you pinch the hooch? Is some blind tiger jerking suds on the side?"

GLaDOS · 29-11-2016 4:53pm

All the more reason to home brew

The flying mouse · 29-11-2016 5:05pm

The poitin stills be back out in force. Smuggling of alcohol will start up once again big time.

Ps couldn't vote in poll as did not like the choices, so I abstained. :-)

ScumLord · 29-11-2016 5:05pm

Zaph wrote: »

The poll is flawed as it doesn't cover enough options. As a nation we clearly do have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and how we consume it. Not all of us obviously, but there is a significant portion of the population who do.

I don't know about all this. I used to drink like a viking when I was a young lad, all my friends used to drink as much as possible. But as we got older the desire to drink just went. Now I go to the pub and have 3 or 4 pints and I'm done. Not even drunk as such, I'm just done, I don't want any more.

Young people will probably always be binge drinkers. They have literally nothing better to be doing. They live comfortable lives and are suckling at the teet of civilized western democracy.

I also find it sort of hard to believe that we're currently the worst for drink. My father went to the pub on a very regular basis, they could drink without thinking of consequences and get rightly hammered, my mother can now drink me under the table, she can knock back brandy like a boss. All her friends can too.

Young people will always binge drink (bar the onset of a war or some sort of political travesty), we may be particularly good at it, that could simply be down to genes, but the rest of Europe tries its damndest to keep up at a party.

I don't see how anything they do is going to convince young people to not enjoy their youth. In the vast majority of cases, the majority of those people will just lose that ability to drink like a fish and grow up, get responsibilities, have to deal with babies.

That just leaves alcoholics. I think these kind for laws are more likely to push those people onto something harder and drive drinking underground with the rest of the frowned upon drugs.

It's a typical half arsed waste of time move from our government. It's like they just enjoy coming up with ways of avoiding doing anything productive thinking if they look busy enough we'll get off their backs.

Winterlong · 29-11-2016 5:07pm

What the feck is it with FG. Would they ever leave us the fck alone with all this crap.

Hope the EU tell them to shove their plan where the water charges dont shine.

Outlaw Pete · 29-11-2016 5:15pm

Gonna buy van loads of cans every week in the northern territory and sell them at €1 a pop down here, see.

You'll not catch me copper, see.

That was supposed to be a prohibition joke. Not sure if I pulled it off too well.

DrumSteve · 29-11-2016 5:19pm

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Gonna buy van loads of cans every week in the northern territory and sell them at €1 a pop down here, see.

You'll not catch me copper, see.

That was supposed to be a prohibition joke. Not sure if I pulled it off too well.

Looks like the Beer Barron will be making a reappearance

TallGlass · 29-11-2016 5:22pm

So... If I am reading this right. It's now going to be cheaper to get drunk or pissed drinking spirits rather than beer. If this is about alcoholism, my word, that is throwing petrol on the fire. What utter plonkers. Anyone who has witnessed proper alcoholism knows spirits are quite literally the most addictive and devistating ones out of the alcohol range.

I really wish this government would just keep out of this area, they haven't got a ****ing breeze about any of it.

Mortpourvelo · 29-11-2016 5:22pm

ScumLord wrote: »

I my mother can now drink me under the table, she can knock back brandy like a boss. All her friends can too.

It's a mammy thing - mine passed away almost a quarter of a century ago but I'm yet to see anyone knock back as much vodka and orange as her and remain standing and speaking coherently!

No hangovers neither - and she didn't drink all the time, maybe once a month.

Wasn't genetic - few pints and am a gonna these days!!!

Mortpourvelo · 29-11-2016 5:23pm

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Gonna buy van loads of cans every week in the northern territory and sell them at €1 a pop down here, see.

You'll not catch me copper, see.

That was supposed to be a prohibition joke. Not sure if I pulled it off too well.

Can you box us off with some Stella lad ???

SEPT 23 1989 · 29-11-2016 5:29pm

TallGlass · 29-11-2016 5:29pm

Just thinking about it there also. Would it not have made more sense to restrict the alcohol content of products? IE, bring cans down to 2/3% max and spirits down to 21% max. I really fail to see how price is going to stop an alcoholic from buying the same amount of drink. You don't see people addicted to heroin saying '**** lads, too expensive for me today, I will have to take a break'. Oh wait. Forgot they problem doesn't exist according to this government cause heroin is illegal.

Class.

MeatTwoVeg · 29-11-2016 5:29pm

Alcohol is far too cheap in this country, particularly in the off-trade.
Compared to 20 years ago prices have fallen dramatically in real terms.

It's time something was done to address this considering the cost that cheap alcohol causes our society.

I'm all n favor of minimum pricing and I applaud its imminent introduction.

Personally, I can't really see it affecting me as I don't drink the type of cheap alcohol this will most likely target.

GLaDOS · 29-11-2016 5:31pm

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Personally, I can't really see it affecting me as I don't drink the type of cheap alcohol this will most likely target.

It's rather naive of you to think this won't push up the price of all other drink

osarusan · 29-11-2016 5:33pm

Am i the only one that doesn't see where it says minimum pricing is 'nigh'?

I see some detail on the bill itself, and health professionals calling on politicians to support it, but no real evidence that the government are 'set to bring in minimum pricing'.

MeatTwoVeg · 29-11-2016 5:34pm

GLaDOS wrote: »

It's rather naive of you to think this won't push up the price of all other drink

I don't really mind if it does.

Pat Mustard · 29-11-2016 5:46pm

ScumLord wrote: »

Young people will probably always be binge drinkers. They have literally nothing better to be doing. They live comfortable lives and are suckling at the teet of civilized western democracy.

The government wants to curb binge drinking but it doesn't have a plan to divert young people into other activities.

No talk about investing in sport or anything like that.

So basically, the plan is to stop students drinking cheap booze at home and to drink more expensive booze at home instead.

Foolproof.

The flying mouse · 29-11-2016 5:57pm

Why cant we just put up them curtains to stop us/you seen the alcohol, sure work .

The flying mouse · 29-11-2016 5:58pm

Well it certainly wont effect me as I of it nearly 8 years :-) Wonder will the price of green tea go up ??

ScumLord · 29-11-2016 6:01pm

TallGlass wrote: »

Just thinking about it there also. Would it not have made more sense to restrict the alcohol content of products? IE, bring cans down to 2/3% max and spirits down to 21% max.

That could maybe kill the craft beer market. I'd rather see them reduce tax on locally made craft beers so that they're competitive with mainstream beers.

I just don't see that price is a problem. Other countries have cheaper drink and they're not drinking as much as us. So it's not the price, it's something else that makes us the biggest binge drinkers.

I do think that Pubs should go back to the original concept of a public house. It's not about drinking, it's about having a meeting place, the trouble for anything these days is if you can't find a way to monetise it, it will fail.

Pat Mustard wrote: »

So basically, the plan is to stop students drinking cheap booze at home and to drink more expensive booze at home instead.

Foolproof.

It only encourages a black market. How can they not see that every time this has been done in the pat, anywhere in the world it's always lead to more dangerous behaviour?

Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

Do you agree with minimum alcohol pricing? 559 votes

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