Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

I know it has cross party support but at the end of the day it was this government who ultimately made it happen and the ones I hold responsible

They didn't just make it happen, they rushed it through. This, the most inept government we have ever had, so it is not too surprising. There is a very good post somewhere from about a month back that lists all the things that were never checked or passed before implementing this. It is also illegal as per EU rules, so technically these idiots should be made answerable to it, or at least be forced to reverse it with immediate effect.

No need for radicals to do anything, labelling is part of the legislation.

An Act to provide for the minimum price per gram of alcohol, to confer the power on the Minister for Health to, by order, increase that price, to provide for the labelling of alcohol products including the inclusion of health warnings and the alcohol content and energy content of alcohol products on alcohol product containers

Do you agree with the principle of MUP, and it is just a matter of the timing that you disagree with? Nothing that you will find online trumps the courts decision that national courts and parliaments are where MUP is to be decided.

"As the froth surrounding the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the Scottish minimum unit pricing (MUP) case subsides, only one conclusion is appropriate; the Court remains agnostic.

At first glance, the ruling may appear ambiguous, yet nevertheless it provides one very clear outcome: EU agriculture rules do not prevent national governments from setting a minimum price for alcohol.

After hearing extensive arguments in May on this point from the Scotch Whisky Association and four EU member states opposed to the Scottish legislation, the ECJ rejected their interventions on this point.

This opens the way for Scotland and Ireland - which, in December, announced plans to also implement MUP - to use one of the most effective policy instruments to fight alcohol-related harm.

Media reaction to the ruling focused on the Court’s ambivalence as to whether taxation would be more effective than MUP, rather than on the substance of the decision.

The Court stated that were raising taxes as effective as MUP, introducing the latter would be barred by the 'proportionality principle'. This led to the Scotch Whisky Association claiming victory, an error that many journalists regrettably fell for.

However, the final say on which measure should be introduced is passed back to the Scottish Court. They are seen as best-placed to judge the likely effectiveness and proportionality in relation to its objectives of reducing alcohol harm.

This is good news for health. The evidence on the effectiveness of MUP is solid and has only increased over recent years.

The greatest advantage of MUP over increased taxation is that it guarantees price changes, while higher excise duties are in practice often absorbed by producers and retailers. This is because they know equally as well as health advocates that higher prices are effective at curbing consumption."

Treat everyone as bad as the degenerates , that'll fix all the problems.

You have a point. As a guinness drinker the only thing that I'll drink at home are the nitrosurge cans, (15 euros for 6 cans), shur I may as well go to the local at those prices...and I have been. This joke law only serves the VFI, nothing to do with health.

Unless it was somebody who was trying to enter out market as mentioned above. Our market is considered fairly small, but if, for example a fairly big beer in Europe that was unheard of here, decided to launch here, they may want to run some sort of promotion or campaign to get their foot in. That is less likely to happen if they have no choice but to enter the market at the same price as Heineken, Bud, Carlsberg etc..

They may likely have the funds to fight it, but is it worth their time and effort? You would imagine with us all being raging alcoholics that they would be fighting for a share..

And realistically all the relevant parties in Ireland have a vested interest in not doing anything - might be a different story if the extra cost was actually going to the government for medical care etc

When you see this it just hammers it home who MUP was really for the benefit of (I know Daily Mirror...)

Later pub openings move a step closer as plans for new extended Nitelink routes announced by Transport Minister Eamon Ryan (msn.com)

So soon we will be able to get a drink at pretty much any time of the day or night.

There maybe 4 hours in the day when we can't walk into a place and buy a drink.

But MUP is introduced because a small portion of us can't be trusted to look after themselves.

Makes sense.

So is this the fudge the government are going to use to get rid of it. Clearly not working and crazy in a time of high inflation

i dont really care what excuse they use, just hope its gone asap. Come back soon the €15 slabs

Alcohol Action Ireland and Pat Kenny trying to tell the country this morning that the increase in Alcohol related deaths in Scotland isn't a sign that MUP hasn't worked over there!!

AAI are clearly trying to link MUP to health benefits. What they don't seem to grasp is most people will start drinking stronger alternatives for their 20 euro than a few bottles of beer or whatever.

I have zero issue with the banning of own brand spirits etc that were being sold for a tenner for 70cl. A 70cl bottle of tesco vodka can do serious damage to both health in a relatively short space of time and also cause huge social issues for the homeless drinking it etc. But targeting the cans etc is just a plain mistake and someone needs to step up a admit it. I get that selling a 24x500ml slab of heineken for 10quid was a piss take. But the minimum should be no greater than €1 for a 500ml can. €24 for a slab of 24. I think most people would have accepted that we either ban the selling of stronger own brand budget spirits at the price they were going for and they would be happy enough a €1.00 a can.

This is utter madness and lunacy.

The only reason that really happened was in preparation for MUP.

It doesn't seem to be working on any level, and everything that was suggested would happen if it was introduced, seems to have happened.