Martin rejects call to ban cut-price alcohol

Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin has rejected a call by the beverage industry for a ban on cut-price sale of alcohol in supermarkets.

The Beverage Council of Ireland's (BCI) contention this week that such sales were running counter to social policy on alcohol consumption has been described as "unsustainable" by the Minister.

Speaking after he opened the BCI annual conference in Galway yesterday, the Minister disputed the BCI's argument that the trend was a direct result of the Government's repeal of the Groceries Order ban on below-cost selling last March.

"I think they [ the BCI] are trying to use the Groceries Order as a stick to beat the Government with on the alcohol abuse side, whereas they were always against the repeal of the order," Mr Martin told reporters.

"The Groceries Order has moved the pendulum from the supplier to the retailer and we have removed a situation where there were huge discount sales going on behind the scenes and no transparency," he said.

The BCI says that a a bottle of beer can now be bought for as little as 75 cent in supermarkets, encouraging increased sales of cases of beer to young people at weekends.

"Government inaction on this issue is totally at variance with both industry and public policy endeavours to promote responsible drinking," BCI president Edward McDaid said at the conference.

"The repeal of the Groceries Order ban on below-cost selling has now led to the widespread sale and promotion of alcohol at prices considerably below cost," Mr McDaid said.

At the BCI conference, the Minister also disputed the findings of a recent Consumer Association of Ireland survey, which reported that supermarket prices had increased since the Groceries Order's abolition.

The order had served as a "dangerous and hugely anti-competitive interference in the freedom to trade", Mr Martin told the conference.

"Claims of rising food prices are not supported by the claims of one supermarket multiple, which has given us details of price reductions on as many as 10,000 different products," he said.