Men can hit weekly alcohol limit for just €7.65, women for €4.95
A man can hit the recommended safe weekly alcohol limit for just €7.65 and a woman for even less, at €4.95, according to the Alcohol Action Ireland off-trade alcohol price survey. File picture
Cheap cider and beer sold in shops continue to drive harmful use of alcohol, with 42% of retailers not following guidelines to separate alcohol from other products.
A man can hit the recommended safe weekly alcohol limit for just €7.65 and a woman for even less at €4.95, according to the Alcohol Action Ireland off-trade alcohol price survey.
Its concerns are backed up by separate research carried out at University College Cork.
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) has urged minimum pricing of alcohol products be swiftly introduced to ensure “the strongest, cheapest alcohol is eliminated from the market”.
Eunan McKinney, head of communications at AAI, said: “The affordability of alcohol from off-trade businesses continues to sustain Ireland’s harmful use of alcohol.”
He said the survey, carried out in Dublin, Meath and Sligo last month, shows alcohol drinkers can get “exceptionally affordable” alcohol anywhere in Ireland.
AAI found one standard drink of cider can be bought for as little as 45c while a standard drink of beer can cost as little as 46c. In Ireland, a standard drink is measured as 10g of pure alcohol, and many cans of 500ml were found to measure up to 1.7 standard drinks.
Cider products were identified as the cheapest and strongest drinks available followed by beer, then wine and spirits across supermarkets including Aldi, Centra, Dunnes, Lidl, Londis, Spar, SuperValu and Tesco.
According to the HSE, the safe weekly limit for men is 17 standard drinks, or 168g of pure alcohol, and for women 11 standard drinks, or 112g of pure alcohol. However, even men opting for higher-priced spirits could reach this intake for about €10. Women could spend less than €7 on their weekly wine intake.
The survey found Cullen’s Irish Cider sold in Aldi at 45c per standard drink, followed by Galahad beer also in Aldi at the equivalent of 46c per standard drink. Conde Rose wine is sold by Lidl for 61c per standard drink at €3.99 per bottle. In Tesco, the Nikita Imperial Vodka sells for 63c per standard drink.
Mr McKinney also warned: “It is evident that the alcohol producers and retailers are already shifting their marketing strategies to ensure retention of key price points.”
He predicted shops could switch away from selling large slabs of beer to instead selling smaller cans of 440ml or bottles of spirits of just 500ml to maintain profit margins.
A separate study highlighted by AAI found more than two and a half years since the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 was put in place, many shops are still not separating alcohol from other products.
A UCC study carried out in May by a masters of Public Health student found “only a 58% compliance amongst a sample group of 90 retailers”. The study identified problems in independent and franchise supermarkets, petrol stations, and convenience shops.
Alcohol Action Ireland chief executive Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “The unsatisfactory rate of compliance by retailers to match the regulations of the Public Health Alcohol Act, after having been afforded a two-year transition, is deeply disappointing.”
Dr Gilheany added: “It demonstrates, yet again, an unwillingness of those hyper-selling alcohol to respond to the spirit of public health initiatives.”
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