Sir, – There’s been plenty of debate over the last few days regarding the introduction of minimum unit pricing in Ireland, but there’s a crucial detail nobody is discussing: we’ve set the price too high.
Minimum unit pricing is a good policy, in my opinion. We often compare this new law to similar legislation in Scotland and parts of Canada and Australia. However, each of these jurisdictions set their minimum price far lower than Ireland’s 10 cent per gram. For example, Scotland set their minimum unit pricing at five pence per gram, which is around six cent in euro, about half of Ireland’s rate. I think minimum unit pricing could work, and garner more public support, if it were set at a more reasonable six or seven cent per gram. This would tackle the cheap, strong alcohol while also allowing off-licences to be competitive with Northern Ireland’s. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O’REILLY,
Malahide, Co Dublin.