Retail and alcohol drink sector highlights issues with minimum pricing on alcohol
DUBLIN: Drinks Ireland and Retail Ireland highlighted various issues related to the introduction of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcoholic beverages.
The Cabinet passed the Public Health Alcohol Act in 2018, which set the price of alcohol at 10c per gram of alcohol. However, the government did not implement it until Northern Ireland had adopted similar measures. But the government now plans to introduce the MUP within the next few weeks, while the NI has postponed implementation until next year.
Officials from the retail sector and alcohol drinks groups have said that the introduction of MUP would drive people to shop alcoholic drinks across the border.
The Director of Drinks Ireland, Patricia Callan, has warned that this decision would encourage customers to shop across the border and will affect businesses on the border. She added that this would also increase the smuggling of illicit alcohol.
According to an Ibec economic survey, imposing minimum prices on alcohol unilaterally will raise the current price differential between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from 27% to 38%. The report says this will result in a €94million loss to the Irish Exchequer due to increased cross-border sales.
Ms. Callan says that due to the closure of the Irish hospitality sector and COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption in the country fell by 6.6% last year, reaching its lowest level in thirty years. “The average consumption in 2020 was 29.8% lower than the peak of 2001,” she said.
Arnold Dillon, Retail Ireland director said: “If consumers travel to Northern Ireland to shop, they will inevitably spend money in a wide range of retail and hospitality outlets, not just in grocery and off-trade.”
‘This will be at the expense of struggling businesses here. While retailers in border regions will be hit hardest, we have seen in the past that consumers will travel long distances to save money,” he added.
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