Eunan McKinney of Alcohol Action Ireland says public health demands the commencement of minimum unit pricing must proceed.
Eunan McKinney CHEAP DRINK AND its contribution to alcohol abuse, has long been a huge problem in Ireland. It’s no secret that 2020 has been a difficult year, but despite the closure of pubs for most of it, Irish people have continued to consume and often abuse alcohol with abundant purchases at their local supermarket or convenience store.
And while there has been some concern about so-called ‘wet pubs’ as centres of transmission, drinking parties in houses, particularly when that alcohol has been bought for ‘pocket-money’ prices, should be a real concern too. It’s been more than 700 days since the public health alcohol policy, framed by the Public Health Alcohol Act, enacted minimum unit pricing for alcohol products as a proven measure to reduce alcohol use especially amongst the most hazardous of drinkers.
Back in 2015, the then Executive announced it would proceed with an alcohol minimum unit pricing policy having commissioned research that suggested that such a policy would lead to a reduction in alcohol use by 5.7% and could reduce alcohol-related deaths in Northern Ireland. In 2016, the Global Burden of Diseases estimate of attributable deaths suggested Ireland’s current rate could be as high as 56 per 100,000. In this context, the government can no longer ignore the objectives for the new public health measure, determined by Cabinet some seven years ago and democratically approved by the Oireachtas two years ago.
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