Madam, - Bernard Murphy of the Beverage Council of Ireland (February 11th) exposed the extortionate prices of soft drinks in pubs. The profiteering is not confined to soft drinks.
Recently I took my family for lunch to our local pub. One round of drinks comprised two pints of Guinness at €3.45 each (fair enough), and three soft drinks for the children. These cost €2.40 each and were served in the same aluminium cans that I could have bought in the newsagents next door for 90 cent. Cost of the round: €14.10.
The price of a "glass", or half-pint of Guinness was €2.45 - more than 70 per cent of the price of a pint. The UK or Spanish equivalent of this drink would be approximately €1.75, or just over 50 per cent of the price of a pint.
Were I to order a vodka and tonic, I would be charged €2.85 for the vodka (fair enough), and €1.35 for a 150-ml non-alcoholic mixer. Cost of drink: €4.20. A UK or Spanish mixer would cost between 50 and 80 cent.
Should I wish to drink a non-alcoholic beer in the same pub, it will cost €3.40 for a half-pint bottle - the same price as a half-pint bottle of "designer" beer, complete with excise duty, or almost as much as a pint of Guinness. What's the point in staying sober?
For the health of our country people must vote with their wallets or tolerate such rip-offs indefinitely. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL O'NEILL, Newcastle, Co Wicklow.