New alcohol legislation to be published today

New legislation enforcing a minimum price on alcohol will be published today.

The laws from Health Minister Leo Varadkar will also ban advertising alcohol near schools - and enforce a watershed on TV.

A study three years ago claimed that well over half of Irish adults drink alcohol at harmful levels.

The new bill being published today contains a major suite of measures aimed at helping to curb alcohol abuse.

The main one is a simple minimum price per unit of alcohol - expected to be around a euro per unit on beer - which will be announced later.

Other less contentious plans include rules forcing shops and supermarkets to store alcohol away from the rest of their products.

The bill will also enforce new bans on alcohol advertising - with no ads permitted near schools, creches and public transport.

Advertising on TV and radio will also be restricted, pushed back until after the 9 o'clock watershed.

Health professionals are welcoming the new legislation.

Professor Donal O'Shea of the Royal College of Physicians says ads target children and try to get them interested in drink from an early age: “If you have a positive relationship with alcohol in your head from the age of 12 and you see it as a good thing, it is very hard to disillusion you of this link.

“We need to do our very best to protect our kids and that is what this round of advertising restrictions is about, I think we will have to keep very much on the money in terms of what the industry will do to combat these restrictions.”