Beer in off-licences and supermarkets looks set to get a lot more expensive

A bag of cans might be about to get a price hike...

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wants to stop the sale of very cheap alcohol in Irish supermarkets and off-licences. An introduction of minimum unit pricing looks set to be brought in with the new Public Health Bill as Varadkar looks to tackle people drinking in excess. He said that alcohol is a drug and warned that there will be stricter regulations on sponsorship and the advertising of alcohol. The bill looks set to particularly affect those who drink at home and will be brought in before the end of the year. The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill has been under consideration by the government since late 2015 but has not yet been enacted. Mr Varadkar told the Irish Daily Mail (Via The Mirror): “Where we are going is somewhere different in the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, which will be enacted before the end of the year." But Varadkar said that it won't affect the price of alcohol in pubs and restaurants etc, but rather target those who are drinking in excess by buying very cheap alcohol. Under the terms of the proposed legislation, the minimum price per gram of alcohol would be set at 10 cent. To find the minimum price for an alcoholic product, you find the weight of alcohol in it, and multiply it buy 10 cent, In theory, this would mean the minimum price for a standard pint in a pub, which contains around 20 grams of alcohol, would be €2. As you can see by this, the bill would not really affect pubs but rather the businesses which sell the product cheaply which will be affected. “But it is about getting rid of people who buy huge amounts of alcohol at very low prices and getting extremely drunk," Varadkar said. “Minimum unit pricing shouldn’t affect the price of alcohol in the restaurant, the cafe, the pub or the hotel. But it will eliminate very cheap alcohol from supermarkets and off-licenses.”