65 thoughts on “A Limerick A Day”

  1. Starina

    absolute Puritan rubbish, and won’t help anything.

    I lived for awhile in one of the states in ‘Murica where you can’t buy liquor in grocery stores, you have to go to government-owned off-licenses with metal detectors on the doors. It didn’t help the rate of alcoholism at all. If you restrict it, people will binge on it.

    1. On The Buses

      It is one of the measures that is part of a suite of measures being introduced to reduce the extremely damaging effect alcohol has in this country. Which state was it you lived in? These measures have worked amazingly well in British Columbia, Canada. We can see the effectiveness of them here ourselves with how tobacco use since the state starting treating it as a public health threat.

      1. jackson

        Tobacco is not alcohol, therein lies the problem. My alcohol fumes don’t spread into other peoples bodies, peoples alcohol consumption is not a public health threat and any legal restriction placed on it is a restriction on their rights, imposing your moral beliefs on others.

        Oh ye the black market for cigarettes is huge, and people are smoking far less than before even in places like germany or usa which have very cheap cigarettes, making your point about tobacco duties void.

        Its not only the big bad drinks industry who oppose this legislation, its hugely unpopular with the public and can be seen right through as a distraction and/or scapegoat for our collapsing public health service.

        2. On The Buses

          Peoples alcohol use can have massive effects on other people around. Have you heard of drunk driving, or drunk and disorderly behaviour?

      2. Starina

        Washington state, just below BC. depressed little region full of heroin and ultra-Christians. there’s a huge difference between smoking and drinking – each smoke is destructive whereas there’s no ill effects (or there’s benefits in the case of red wine) in moderately consuming alcohol.

        1. On The Buses

          ‘Moderate’ consumption of alcohol is actaully the source of most allcohol harm, i.e. long term use over a prolonged period. Also, one drink is damaging, there is no safe amount of ethanol that you can consume.

          2. On The Buses

            That study has been roundly debunked once the fact that the majority of abstainers in the study were former heavy users.

          4. Dόn Pídgéόní

            People who abstain from alcohol tend to be sicker – think cancer, severe chronic disease and mental health problems. So the study is right but needs to be interpreted correctly.

      3. Janet, I ate my avatar

        A large part of the problem is rampant denial and the fact that Irish “culture” is so closely linked to alcohol…I haven’t seen a lot of drinking in moderation in Ireland.

        2. Starina

          this is true but clamping down even further is only going to make it worse. compare the amount of 21st-birthday cases of alcohol poisoning in the States versus relatively low occurences of alcohol abuse in Spain or Italy.

          1. Janet, I ate my avatar

            That’s more to do with a healthy attitude to alcohol starting at home from a positive example. Its generally less acceptable to be shitfaced in Italy or France especially for females. The seeds to binge drinking and I’d say eating too are sown at a young age through education or lack there of.

  2. jackson

    The call for alcohol to be hidden is the puritan voice in Ireland trying to impose their morals again. They consider consumption immoral, never mind the ethics of another adult labeling your lifestyle as immoral and to be hidden from view.

    Can we set up an anti-prohibition lobby please? this is getting out of control, over the last decade our rights concerning alcohol are slowly ebbed away with each successive legislation, we already have the most expensive booze in the EU and most restrictive licensing hours.

    1. On The Buses

      Any call for alcohol restrictions in this country is often met with people calling the restrictions puritanical. There is already an anti prohibition lobby, they are the drinks industry, and they are very very effective.

      1. Clampers Outside!

        I don’t see alcohol and cigs in the same category, so I’m not sure what the relevance of the question is.
        Do you see them as the same thing – cigs and alcohol?

        To answer the question, yes, covering up cigs is a good idea.

  4. dylad

    So if I go into an off-licence, is the idea that I will be presented with large cabinets behind a counter with small labels on them? Not great for wine shopping!

        2. On The Buses

          I spent years working in the alcohol industry. I knowa lot about wine. and I know most people will buy anything as long as it’s labelled accordingly.

          1. Fact Checker

            Completely true.

            Most professional wine experts perform very poorly at blind tastings.

            Punters struggle to tell a €10 bottle from a €100 one.

  5. Cool_Hand_Lucan

    This is farcical. If they want to get through to the average Joe (i.e. me) about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption they should broadcast PSAs about the damage it does to the body, heightened risk of certain cancers and the high calorific intake of most drinks.

    1. On The Buses

      They are all measures that are included in the Public Health Alcohol Bill. Restricted visibility is just one of the measures. Also, you seem to already be completely aware of the high calories and cancer risks so why do you need a PSA?

      1. Cool_Hand_Lucan

        You forget sometimes. I’m aware of the dangers of a high calorie foods but when I see the nutritional value (or lack thereof) on the label it makes me sometimes look for a healthier option.

        1. On The Buses

          Labelling of nutritional values on alcohol products is one of the measure in the Public Health Alcohol Bill.

          1. Cool_Hand_Lucan

            I’m not giving out about that but the provision that makes retailers “hide” the alcohol is ridiculous. If they do have to build these black-out huts, invariably the cost is going to come back onto the customer and not just on the price of alcohol.

  6. Fact Checker

    Dan O’Brien had a great article on this yesterday: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/dan-obrien/dont-raise-your-glass-to-end-of-ripoff-republic-35153598.html

    “If minimum pricing is a very bad idea, there is also reason to question the benefits of higher alcohol prices via taxes. Alcohol consumption per capita in Ireland has been falling since the turn of century, during which time it has declined by a quarter. Not only that, it appears as if the long-yearned-for change in Ireland’s culture of alcohol use and abuse may finally be happening – there are some pretty decent signs that younger people are drinking less than when we older types did when we were youths (I heard a university lecturer observe last week that while 10 years ago swathes of students were regularly hungover at morning lectures, that is no longer the case).”

    1. jackson

      Cause and effect, saying alcohol consumption has reduced because of higher duties makes no sense, for one reason,
      Alcohol is still more affordable now than previously due to increase in disposable income. It has everything to do with culture changing

        1. Fact Checker

          I do not have time to crunch the CSO data but I would say alcohol affordability (in crude terms how many pints an average income will buy you) is at its lowest in 50 years in Ireland.

    2. Clampers Outside!

      +1

      Wait until they start taxing the hell outta e-cigs, on top of the VAT, ’cause the government is losing a tonne of money from people quitting the damn fags!

      Damned public trying to get healthy… *shakes fist*

  7. nej

    Currently living in Stockholm. They’re just about to phase out the last (state run monopoly) booze store that makes you go to a counter and ask for what booze you want.

    They’re a failure. Research shows they’re a failure. Practical examples from other countries shows that it’s a failure. Why even bother with a failed idea?

    I guess it’s true – no matter how stupid – any old idea will be dressed up and trotted out again given enough time.

      2. Starina

        that’s totally cool for you but don’t impose that agenda on the rest of us. it’s like a formerly obese person saying coca cola should be sold in unmarked cans.

        1. On The Buses

          I’m not imposing anything what I think makes no difference to how the Public Health Alcohol Bill will play out. You Thatcherites are all fighting for the agenda of alcohol industry without even knowing it.

          2. Neilo

            If you think the posters so far on this thread are Thatcherite, then that label has lost all meaning ;-0

          3. Fact Checker

            Actually the industry love the proposal because a minimum price will boost their profit margins.

          4. On The Buses

            Fact Checker, Can you link to something that shows alcohol industry support to the Minimum Unit Price?

          5. Fact Checker

            You have to read between the lines.

            See this press release: http://www.abfi.ie/Sectors/ABFI/ABFI.nsf/vPagesABFI/Media~Newsroom~abfi-response-to-alcohol-bill!OpenDocument

            About 15% of it refers to MUP. They are far more concerned about advertising restrictions.

            On MUP their only concern relates to the risk of cross-border leakage. If MUP was introduced in the North they would be quite happy with it.

            And even still I suspect off licenses and pubs south-west of a line from Dublin to Sligo are happy with it.

    2. jackson

      Probably wears the pin, like its some sort of fucking achievement. Ties in nicely with puritan high horseing. We need a life of servitude told by our betters, we can’t control ourselves and need higher powers to make our decisions.

      1. Fact Checker

        Can you not respond on the substance rather than engage in speculation about the personal characteristics of an avatar?

        He/she makes a cogent argument (albeit one I disagree with).

      2. On The Buses

        Unfortunately in this country many people go straight to setting up a religious straw man whenever critiques of the alcohol culture in Ireland are voiced. In fact there was a paper produced by UCD on possible connection to alcohol use and rebelling against church power.

        In reality though, The church and alcoholics anonymous have no power or sway over me and my opinions. If it is important to you to know my personal background, I worked for years in the alcohol industry here and eventually stopped drinking. I don’t support the banning of alcohol, and nor do i support the banning of tobacco.

        If you are angry at your perception of God however, by all means drink away. I will be supporting any state measure to quell the damage done to our country by ethenol consumption though. Cheers xo

    1. Starina

      yeah you want to talk about supporting the alcohol industry, Buses? pub and bar owners would love it if it got more difficult to buy alcohol in shops as people *might* go back to paying mad money for drinks in the pub. there’s been a decline in pub sales in recent years because it’s too expensive.

  11. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

    Everyone has their own vices
    Those who ‘haven’t‘ have much louder voices
    Politicians own pubs
    They’re Landlords, and Dubs
    I bet they’re confused in this ‘crisis’.

    I was going to write another verse.
    It’s gone outta me head now.

  12. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

    Hang on now, I’m getting the jist…
    I’ll buy me booze off a price-list?
    It’s actually funny
    But I will save money
    And far often afford to be p155ed

  13. Iwerzon

    This bill sounds like something Roisin Shortall is all over. When I came to Dublin about 9 years ago I remember the stealth law being introduced over night, stopping me buying a bottle of wine in Centra after 10pm. F’n nanny state.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie