Sir, – The Public Health Alcohol Bill and the measures it contains, including minimum unit pricing, will legislate for alcohol as a public health issue for the first time in our country’s history. This is an entirely necessary measure.
Ireland has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. In 2014, the average Irish person aged over 15 drank 11 litres of pure alcohol, compared to the OECD average of nine litres, while the most recent figures suggest that 1,500 hospital beds a night are taken up due to alcohol consumption, and treatment of alcohol-related diseases and injuries costs the healthcare system an estimated €1.2 billion.
The Irish Cancer Society supports minimum unit pricing as there is growing evidence that alcohol consumption increases the risk of getting some cancers. We echo the World Health Organisation’s position that reducing consumption is one of the main ways of reducing alcohol-related diseases and the most effective way of reducing consumption is to tackle pricing. Minimum unit pricing is not a mechanism that will be used to punish the “sins of the few”, but is rather a targeted measure to reduce the consumption of those at greatest risk of harm, heavier drinkers.
There is a body of research to suggest that heavier drinkers are affected most by minimum unit pricing, while the estimated effects of such pricing on moderate drinkers are negligible, even on those in the lowest income groups. To decry minimum unit pricing as forcing the many to pay for the sins of the few is wholly inaccurate.
As a society, we need to take collective responsibility for our problem drinking, and minimum unit pricing, as part of a wider, more holistic package of measures, does so by targeting those most at risk. – Yours, etc,
KATHLEEN O’MEARA,
Irish Cancer Society,
Northumberland Road,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – Prof Frank Murray's "continued optimism about the viability of our own Government's plans" (September 16th) to introduce minimum unit pricing is likely due to the fact that the opinion of the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) advocate general indicates that such pricing is not precluded by EU law if it is considered to be a better measure than taxation for reducing alcohol harm.
The evidence shows that minimum unit pricing is a better measure than taxation, precisely because it is not a tax, but rather a floor price beneath which alcohol cannot be sold, and therefore can effectively target the heaviest drinkers in society, who favour the very cheap, strong alcohol available in the off-trade, while having little or no impact on those who drink in a low-risk manner. Minimum unit pricing will also have absolutely no impact on the price of alcohol sold in pubs, clubs or restaurants.
It is notable too, that according to the ECJ advocate general, Yves Bot, “the targeting of cheap alcoholic beverages may be justified by the fact that hazardous or harmful drinkers, including, in particular, the young, whose protection as a matter of priority is a legitimate concern, to a large extent consume that category of drinks”.
Philip Donnelly (September 21st) states that "an alcohol poll tax on all consumers regardless of intake, income or alcohol-influenced behaviour . . . never had a realistic prospect of becoming law" – yet excise duty does exactly that and even when combined with VAT, still falls €1.6 billion short of covering the annual cost of alcohol harm to Irish society, a cost borne by all taxpayers.
Minimum unit pricing is not just a more effective measure than taxation, it is a more equitable one. Most importantly, it is proven to save lives and reduce the significant health, social and economic harms caused by alcohol. – Yours, etc,
SUZANNE COSTELLO,
Chief Executive Officer,
Alcohol Action Ireland,
Dublin 1.
Sir, – We need to attack the problem on several fronts, not just on unit pricing. It is time that some well-heeled philanthropist launched a sneaky advertising campaign to counteract all those ads for cider and beer that should not be allowed during televised daytime matches, as with the All-Ireland football final at the weekend.
If there is a will to address the problem of alcohol abuse, it can be done. So-called responsible drinkers should take an active part in achieving this goal instead of whinging and complaining. – Yours, etc,
MARY NAUGHTON,
Rosses Point, Co Sligo.