The appeal of Ireland will not wane because of increase in price of wine

Doing what I do on a daily basis I was surprised to see the editorial in last Saturday’s edition, worrying if we were putting tourists off coming to Ireland because of the high cost of wine in our restaurants.

Yes, wine is expensive in Ireland, but so too are several other products used by tourists, such as accommodation, food, transport and clothing. In fact the excise duty on alcohol has not increased in line with inflation, so relatively speaking, alcohol is cheaper and this is the likely reason that there was an increase in alcohol consumption in Ireland last year and in the first quarter of this year. Interestingly, the consumption of wine has increased more than beer, spirits and cider.

The economy is recovering and we are able to afford to increase our alcohol consumption. What is clear cut is that it has been shown on numerous occasions that the higher the price of alcohol, the less we consume and vice versa. The more we consume the higher the morbidity and mortality from alcohol; the rates of hospital admissions and deaths from alcohol have more than doubled in the last decade in Ireland, at a time when they are decreasing in other southern European countries.