A quarter of Irish consumers said they were influenced to buy less or no alcohol on a shopping trip after seeing new health warning labels on products highlighting the link between alcohol and cancer.
The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy also found that around a third of all consumers reported noticing the new warnings on alcohol products, although their introduction is not mandatory until 2028.
The results showed that 25% of consumers who noticed the health warnings said they influenced their decision to buy less or no alcohol on that shopping trip, while 22% said they were discouraged from purchasing the labelled product.
They also discovered that 40% of consumers who saw the new labels said it made them think about alcohol’s impact on health.
On The Claire Byrne Show , CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland, Sheila Gilheany said the results are "encouraging."
"We know from earlier research from the HSE that fewer than four in ten people are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. Cancer and alcohol, unfortunately, causes at least a thousand cases of cancer every year. One in eight breast cancers, for example, are due to alcohol."
"Other common cancers that occur here in Ireland, including bowel cancer, are affected by alcohol. So it's not surprising then that when people are given that information in the form of a label, that they are more likely then to reconsider."
Official figures show that alcohol was responsible for 4.3% of all deaths in Ireland in 2019.
The study noted Ireland has one of the highest rates of heavy episodic drinking within the OECD, with over 40% of adults reporting monthly binge drinking.
"We were very disappointed when the government last year decided to delay the implementation of this measure. So now, instead of coming into effect in May 2026, it's now going to be September 2028. But some of the products are already carrying it."
The label obligation had been deferred last year, with the Minister for Health stating it was due to “economic circumstances”, in response to a recent parliamentary question.
Ms Gilheany continued: "The alcohol industry has already made sure that they don't comply with, even the most basic of labelling things, such as, calories or ingredients that, every other product sold in the EU does.
"We also know that they have discouraged a European cancer plan to have cancer warning labels on alcohol products by 2022.
"So all of these things point to why the industry say they wanted to move into the European forum, because they know that is the very way that they will make sure that consumers are not kept informed about the risks from alcohol."
The requirement for health labels to be placed on alcohol products was contained in the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, passed in 2018. The deadline for its mandatory introduction is set for September 2028.
