In light of the latest Eurostat figures, which showed that Irish alcohol prices were 200% of the EU average, should minimum unit pricing be scrapped?

Minimum unit pricing (MUP) was initially brought in three-and-a-half years ago and set base prices at which alcohol could be charged.

Chief economist with the Institute of International and European Affairs Dan O’Brien, told The Hard Shoulder that MUP is “one of the dumbest policies I can ever remember”.

“Minimum unit pricing simply increases profits for retailers – on that basis alone, it is madness,” he said.

“If you want to use the price mechanism to reduce consumption – and there’s a lot of issues around that – if you want to do that, you put a tax on it.

“We’ve got very expensive alcohol in this country, but you increase the tax, take the money, and lower other taxes so the tax burden remains the same.”

A drinks fridge in a Dublin off licence as Government price fixing of alcohol will be based on the strength of each product, it has emerged.

However, Mr O’Brien said that alcohol consumption has been falling for the past 25 years, and that these types of policies are unnecessary.

“One of the freedoms is the freedom to do yourself harm, and if people want to drink too much, in my view, that is not for the Government to start telling people what they can do,” he said.

“We already have a lot of disincentives around alcohol purchases by taxes and pricing; I don’t agree with the idea of even higher taxes.”

Public health intervention

Retired consultant in emergency medicine and host of the Irish Medical Lives podcast Chris Luke said that while people have a right to do themselves harm, the Government still has a duty to protect citizens from the harmful behaviour of others.

“The vast majority of our people are profoundly concerned about long waiting lists for surgeries,” he said.

“They’re profoundly concerned about the chaos and the congestion in our emergency departments, they’re concerned about drug and drink driving, they’re concerned about crazy driving on the motorways and so on.”

Mr Luke said that public health interventions, which he sees MUP as, take 10 to 20-years to take effect, and and so should not be scrapped.

Main image: Alcohol shelf in liquor store or supermarket. Woman buying a bottle of red wine and looking at alcoholic drinks in shop.