This afternoon.
Further to eye-popping alcohol off-sales price hikes…
…via Lucille Destrade, KU Leuven and Michel Destrade, of NUI Galway:
One standard drink in Ireland contains 10 grams of alcohol, so the minimum price for one standard drink will now be €1.
A 12.5% bottle of wine has 74 grams of alcohol and it cannot now be sold for less than €7.40. A bottle of spirit like vodka or whiskey cannot be sold for less than €21. A point to note here is that the price of a bottle of champagne (which cost more than €7.40 in 2021) or fine whiskey (which cost more than €21 in 2021) remains unchanged.
The main issue is that it is a price floor instead of a tax. The HSE believes that “people drink more alcohol if it is cheap. If you raise taxes for alcohol, you are raising the cost of alcohol for everyone. Minimum pricing most impacts people who are drinking alcohol harmfully. It is designed to target the heaviest drinkers who seek the cheapest alcohol, which means it will have the greatest effect among those who experience the most harm.
However, no evidence is provided for these claims. Is it wise or correct for the Government to base an economic policy on the assumptions that price is enough to deter heavy drinkers and that heavy drinkers only seek cheap alcohol?
Why minimum pricing for alcohol won’t reduce harmful drinking (RTE)
Yesterday: Can-Kicking Exercise
Meanwhile…
On 2nd Jan 2L Cullen's Irish Cider was €3.79 in @Aldi. On 3rd Jan it was €1.99 in an effort to flog a product that would be unsellable. On 4th Jan it is €8.36. It will end up in a skip.
Cullens, an Irish Micro brewery, now have a product they can't sell. #rtept
— Ultan McPadden (@UltMcP) January 6, 2022