Members of the Irish drinks and hospitality industry have called for cuts to excise duty on alcohol as part of the Support Your Local campaign by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (Digi).
Campaign manager Bart Storan denied multinational drinks companies would benefit exponentially from an excise cut compared to pubs. Digi is the umbrella organisation for the drinks industry.
“Since 2011 tax increases have directly added 28 cent to the price of a pint. It’s a huge margin that gets added at a time when publicans are struggling. Excise is a big driver of a shift to the off licence, and we’re trying to reverse that trend and bring people into pubs around the country.”
Campaign’s focus
Mr Storan said the campaign’s focus was not on people to drink more alcohol but to drink in pubs, restaurants and hotels. “Overall consumption of alcohol has dropped in Ireland by around 25 per cent since 2001, so there are a myriad of factors contributing to alcohol-related harm in this country. A big part of it is the shift to the off licence away from the pub.”
He said the campaign also supported the introduction of minimum unit pricing on alcohol. “The availability of alcohol in supermarkets that’s cheaper than water is a huge problem for health policy in Ireland, so we will work with the Government to make sure it’s implemented as soon as possible.”