Minimum alcohol pricing will not cut intake, say consumers

Most consumers do not believe minimum alcohol pricing will reduce consumption. A survey for Checkout magazine found that just 22% of consumers believe minimum pricing will work.

The Government plans to introduce minimum pricing as part of the National Substance Misuse Strategy.

A fixed, minimum unit pricing based on the strength of each product is among a number of measures aimed at getting people to cut the amount of alcohol they drink.

However, the survey found that 60% of people either disagree or strongly disagree that the planned legislation will lower consumption.

Those in the 45-plus age group were more optimistic — more than one in four agreed that the plan would succeed. Still, 57% disagreed.

Almost three out of four (72%) of young people aged 18 to 24 thought the initiative would fail, as did 62% of those aged 25 to 34 and 59% of those aged 35 to 44.

Alex White, the minister of state for primary care, has said he hoped to have legislation introduced in the summer.

However, Checkout editor Stephen Wynn-Jones said the Empathy Research study showed minimum pricing might not be the most effective way to curb alcohol abuse.

Mr Wynn-Jones said Government initiatives to curb consumption were welcome, but research showed that most people did not believe the goal would be achieved with minimum pricing.

In addition, almost three quarters of consumers felt that minimum pricing would affect independent off-licenses more than supermarkets.

Health Minister James Reilly pointed out that the average Irish person over 15 years of age was drinking the equivalent of a bottle of vodka per week — there was evidence that around 1.5m adults were engaging in harmful drinking.

Dr Reilly said alcohol misuse in Ireland was a serious problem, with 2,000 hospital beds occupied each night by people with alcohol-related illness or injury.