The New Prohibition
A mooted government crackdown on cheap booze comes amid growing hysteria about Ireland’s alleged problem with drinking. But do we really consume more than fellow northern European countries? And will calling a halt to bargain drink prices truly solve the problem?
Colm O Hare, 27 Jan 2012
Judging by recent reports, we’ll soon see an end to the bargain-basement booze we’ve apparently been enjoying way too much of for our own good. The Government has indicated it will take steps to end the practice of bulk-discounting and below-cost selling of alcohol by big supermarket multiples.
Roisin Shortall, Minister of State at the Department of Health, has in recent months repeatedly stated her intention to introduce minimum pricing, increased taxation or a combination of both, in order to reduce what she describes as excessive consumption.
“Irish drinkers,” she said last week, “lost the run of themselves and the time is right to tackle this problem.” On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the Minister insisted that “middle-aged women are having two, three or four glasses of red wine before going to bed while older men are drinking too many pints.”
Is this move to make alcohol more expensive justified? Or is it a typically hysterical “nanny-state” reaction to a problem that is both exaggerated and much more complex? Is alcohol really all that cheap in Ireland anyway? And will raising the price have any meaningful effect on curbing alcohol abuse?
Alcohol Action are one of several organisations backing the call for minimum pricing. According to the charity’s CEO, Fiona Ryan, “Ireland is one of six countries where alcohol has become more than 50% more affordable in the past 15 years. We know that the big multiple retailers are using alcohol to attract in customers and passing the cost onto other products.”
There is no doubt that the relative price of alcohol, particularly in off-licences and supermarkets, has fallen in recent years. But prices in Ireland are still nowhere near the kind of low levels that are available in say, France, Germany or Holland – where take-away alcohol is incredibly cheap, without causing the sort of problems that are perceived to arise here.
Add the fact the Irish excise rate on beer is more than double the EU average and the rate on wine is over three times the EU average, and the evidence that alcohol is too cheap here is totally unconvincing. The notion of “affordability” is all relative anyway. Alcohol may have become nominally cheaper, but it’s at a time when disposable incomes are plummeting due to wage cuts, unemployment and tax increases, not to mention a whole raft of levies and charges coming our way.
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