Binge drinking blamed on below-cost selling

Meath West Fine Gael TD Damien English claimed that below-cost selling was encouraging the promotion of alcohol.

Mr English said that the Competition Authority's report had recommended that tax and excise duty on alcohol should be increased.

"However, increasing the tax will hurt everyone, moderate as well as binge drinkers. I would like, at some stage, to hear the Minister's opinion on this matter.

"I would not want to be associated with a department that wants to penalise everyone - people who drink in moderation and those who binge drink."

Earlier, Mr English claimed that the "dog on the street" knew that the the abolition of the groceries order and the below-cost selling of alcohol had increased binge drinking.

"It encourages the purchase of slabs of beer and people have told me they double their consumption of alcohol in order to get a deal. It is wrong of the Competition Authority to let ideology overrule common sense."

Minister of State Michael Ahern said media reports had suggested that the abolition of the groceries order resulted in the wide availability of low-cost alcohol and an associated increase in consumption.

"The order was abolished primarily because it allowed wholesalers and suppliers to determine minimum retail prices for consumers, thereby constraining price competition in the grocery trade. It was not designed to address the issue of alcohol abuse and there is no evidence from studies to suggest it was capable of doing so."

Mr Ahern said that an inter-departmental committee considered the issue of alcohol. Its report contained a number of recommendations, including the abolition of the limit on the number of pub licences, the introduction of new forms of licence designed to cater for changing consumer tastes and the interpretation of retail planning guidelines to promote competition.

"This is consistent across local authorities, with the result that planning regulations are not used as a barrier to entry in respect of pub and other licences."

Mr Ahern insisted that statistics did not support the hypothesis that the abolition of the groceries order had resulted in the increased consumption of alcohol.

However, he said he would bring Mr English's observations to the attention of Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin.