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Some alcohol price increases will be close to 100% when minimum pricing is introduced

Health Minister, Leo Varadkar has published laws which set a minimum price for each unit of alcoh...
Newstalk
Newstalk

12.37 11 Dec 2015


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Some alcohol price increases w...

Some alcohol price increases will be close to 100% when minimum pricing is introduced

Newstalk
Newstalk

12.37 11 Dec 2015


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Health Minister, Leo Varadkar has published laws which set a minimum price for each unit of alcohol on Wednesday - it means that retailers will charge 10c per gram of alcohol - the Government says this equates to €1 per unit of alcohol.

A 750ml bottle of wine which is 11.5% is to cost €8.63 according to the guidelines - but the alcohol content in a standard bottle of wine can be as high as 14%.

A bottle of Vinyard Pinotage, a red wine from South Africa which is 14%, and currently sold by Tesco for €5.39 contains 10.5 units of alcohol - under the new rules this would increase by almost 100% to close to €10.50.

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Aldi currently sells 70cl bottles of Tamova for €12.99 - at 37.5% it should cost over €26.

A 200ml 'naggin' of a spirit generally contains 6 units of alcohol - meaning that the cheapest will cost around €6.

Half litre cans of beer are likely to begin at €2. Craft and specialist beers with higher alcohol contents are generally have 2.5 units - but most of these beers are already sold at higher prices. For example, a 2.5 unit 33cl bottle of Guinness Extra Foreign Stout (7.5%) currently costs €2.55.

The Government's goal is to reduce average annual alcohol consumption in Ireland from 11 to 9.1 litres per person by 2020.

Labels on alcohol products will also have to detail:

  • The amount of pure alcohol as measured in grams and the calorie count
  • Health warnings (including for pregnancy)
  • A link to a public health website to be set up by the HSE, giving information on alcohol and related harms

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