The price of drink

Madam, - Recent reports on RTÉ bemoaned the worrying amount of money we spend on alcohol, citing high percentage differences …

Madam, - Recent reports on RTÉ bemoaned the worrying amount of money we spend on alcohol, citing high percentage differences between the amount spent here and the European average.

What was not headlined was the high percentage difference between the cost of alcohol here and that charged to our fellow EU citizens.

May I suggest one reason why so much is spent here on alcoholic beverages?

A "pint" of orange or Lucozade in my local is 31 per cent more expensive than a pint of lager, and a pint of low/non-alcohol lager is 97 per cent dearer.

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Perhaps the reason we spend to much on alcoholic refreshments is because we cannot afford the non-alcoholic ones! - Yours, etc.,

MIKE EDMONDS, Golden Falls, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare.