Sir, – Your Editorial (“Minimum drinks price welcome”, July 16th) seems to fall victim to that old political fallacy: “Something must be done, this is something: therefore it must be done”. Whether the latest batch of proposed legislation is the product of anything more than moral panic remains doubtful, but the proposed minimum alcohol pricing is certainly the worst of an uncertain lot.
First, one questions the very efficacy of the plan: minimum prices serve only to insulate retailers from competition, thereby bloating the profits they make from drink and discourage from consumption only those of limited means, while the rest of us face higher prices to the benefit of drink companies. It will practically accomplish only one thing, sating the fickle creature of public opinion that something has been done.
But one must question the very moral right of the State, compelled by a public panicked by the craven sensationalism of the media, to decide that it can police our habits and actions which, for the majority of people, have led to no harm to anyone else. Why ought we frown on, let alone economically attack, those who binge-drink, especially when they are young and buy from supermarkets? What harm do they cause to anyone else save in the rarest of instances? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It is very regrettable that the Government appears to be caving in to lobbying from the drinks industry in relation to alcohol policy. One would have thought as a country that we would have learnt the lesson of not allowing commercial interests to self-regulate.
Lessening the damage that alcohol causes in Ireland will principally affect the profits of the very powerful manufacturers and retailers of alcohol. Our population will benefit, our streets will be safer and the pressure on our beleaguered health service will lessen. Sure, the FAI and IRFU will have to look elsewhere to seek financial support – they are being given more than five years to find new sponsors. Do members of the Government have so little confidence in our economic recovery prospects that they believe sporting bodies will need alcohol money in the long term to survive?
From research carried out on behalf of the Health Research Board published last week almost 80 per cent of the public believes the Government has a responsibility to implement public health measures in relation to alcohol and when asked whether the Government was doing enough to reduce alcohol consumption three times as many people answered No as Yes.
As well as being the right thing to do in the public interest, bringing forward public health alcohol legislation will be seen even in the short term as a very creditable achievement by this Government. I hope this issue makes its way onto the agenda for next week’s Cabinet meeting. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – While our Ministers are getting hangovers from trying to tackle this perennial problem, has anyone suggested that they are trying to deal with the results rather than the cause?
So long as the parents of children have been disempowered from disciplining them, so long as the schools have been disempowered from disciplining them and so long as the Garda Síochána stand by helpless to discipline underaged youth, we will have a society growing up knowing no boundaries – everything is acceptable with regard to relationships, alcohol, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
Please, politicians, allow us to set the boundaries for our young growing up, to encourage them by example and provide help to those parents and teachers who face behavioural problems. Give them back their power to discipline young persons in a reasonable and understanding way. After all, we were all young once, but we certainly knew the boundaries were not to be breached if we wanted to keep the respect and confidence of our parents and teachers – which is the first step to learning to live within the law. – Yours, etc,