Ireland And UK To Coordinate Minimum Price For Drink

The Government has said that initiatives to tackle low cost drink will be carried out in tandem with the UK.

Speaking about the possible enforcement of a minimum price for alcoholic drinks, Fine Gael Cork North Central Deputy, Dara Murphy, said the debate around tackling the sale of low cost alcohol had already commenced. He said the coordination with the UK was necessary to ensure the changes implemented do not have a negative impact on the border counties.

Deputy Murphy also said that the exchequer should be the beneficiary of any price increase and not multinationals.

“Any argument made for increasing the price of consumer products in the State, invariably comes back to the number of people that will flood across the border in a bid to find the same product at a cheaper price," Mr Murphy said.

“Britain and Northern Ireland are also currently looking at ways of tackling alcohol abuse and low cost selling, so it makes sense that any initiative being considered here is introduced in tandem with a similar one in the UK. This would help mitigate the impact on the border counties, in terms of cross-border shopping."

In December, the UK Prime Minister ordered officials to develop a scheme in England to stop the sale of alcohol at below 40p to 50p a unit in shops and supermarkets.

The plan is expected to copy Scottish proposals, which would ban the sale of alcohol below 45p a unit, or bring in a more sophisticated system of taxes based on the number of alcohol units contained in the drink.

(DW)