Ireland tests more expensive alcohol to limit consumption

Dundalk (Irlande)

From our correspondent

Gone are the days of advertisements extolling the health benefits of Guinness! In Ireland, the beginning of the year 2022 marks the transition to a new strategy to fight against the overconsumption of alcohol: the increase in prices. The unit of alcohol can no longer be sold below €1, or 10 cents per gram of pure alcohol. Now, a bottle of wine at 12.5° costs €7.40, and the pack of 24 Budweiser beers is close to €40, compared to €18 in the past. An increase which is first felt in supermarkets and cellars, where the least expensive products are found.

On the shelves of the Tesco hypermarket in Dundalk, near the border with Northern Ireland, customers are not thrilled. “I find it unfair, and it will probably be ineffective,” sighs Clodagh Connolly, who compares labels. “It won’t affect my consumption. I will continue to buy alcohol, neither more nor less than before, but it will cost me more. His daughter, a 19-year-old student, is concerned: “With these new prices, a case of beer is almost as expensive as a bottle of vodka. It may encourage us to buy stronger spirits. If you only have €20 and you want to party, you will choose the drink that will have the most effect on you…”

Another customer scans the barcode on a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc before placing it in her cart. “This has gone from 8 to 10 €. Me, I can afford it, but people who have addictions will always find ways to drink: they will divert the money from meals or clothes… The government should use the difference in price to finance detoxification cures and programs fight against alcoholism, or to educate children! In the country, adults drink an average of 11 liters of pure alcohol per year (compared to 11.7 in France), the equivalent of 116 bottles of wine or 445 pints of beer.

Some reactions have made headlines, such as that of a Guinness aficionado stacking up to 500 cans at home to “last” all year, but expert estimates are ambitious. The government is relying on figures from the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group and hopes to avert 200 deaths a year (there are currently three a day) and some 6,000 hospitalizations. Overall consumption is expected to fall by around 9% and up to 15% for households most at risk. In the Republic of Ireland, it is estimated that half of those who drink alcohol engage in dangerous behavior and that 40% of them engage in binge drinking sessions at least once times per month.

Among the other measures of this law on public health, passed in 2018 and gradually applied: labels indicating the dangers of alcohol, the ban on displaying advertisements near schools or making promotional offers on alcoholic beverages, and more limits in the sponsorship of sporting events, in particular motor sports… For the Ministry of Health, it is also a question of delaying the age of onset of consumption, currently around 14 years. But in Dundalk, conversations on this subject end in a smirk: all it takes is a short detour by car to go shopping in Northern Ireland, where prices have not yet aligned.

Pubs and restaurants, which already have higher prices, are spared. ” For the moment ! “, tempers Mark Gogarty, owner of the Oscars bar, which overlooks one of the main streets. “The increase in the price of oil and electricity will increase the price of production of beer, and that will inevitably affect us. However, the new measures do not worry him. “The Irish aren’t going to stop drinking that much,” he laughs, hoping “that it will bring more people to the pub.” “The advantage is that people are kicked out after a certain hour, so that no one will come to dislodge you from your kitchen! »

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