Alcohol price clampdown will not affect jobs, says Shortall

A GOVERNMENT clampdown on the sale of cheap alcohol will not have a “significant impact” on jobs, junior minister Roisín Shortall has said.

Ms Shortall, who is responsible for the Government’s drugs strategy, said that below-cost selling of alcohol, particularly in supermarkets, was having a “very negative impact on Irish society”.

She indicated that as well as moving towards the introduction of minimum pricing on alcohol, the Government may increase taxes on alcohol in the budget in a bid to dampen alcohol consumption.