Price of off-sales sky rocket in Ireland

[Tubetec]

I think I posted in another thread about the price hikes we were facing , anyway today the rises were applied .
A can of German Pilsner from Lidl which normally cost me 1.09 is now 1.94 euros an increase of 78% , similar per unit price rises have been applied to wine and spirits as well ,
Previously the cheapest bottle of wine was 3.99 that has jumped to more than 7.20 depending on strenght . Before cheaper vodka could be had from around 12-13 euros a bottle , thats now a minimum of 22 euros .

The price of typical premium brand(not nessesarily a guarantee of quality)alcohol products were untouched ,meaning these so called public health measures specifcally target poorer households . Its hard to see how these measures wont end up causeing children hardship and mean less good quality food on the table in many circumstances .For poor people with the missfortune to be addicted to alcohol I can only see it making matters worse and swell the trade in ileagal hooch and its associated dangers , for the rich pisshead it wont make any difference .

Alcohol in the North of Ireland has always been appreciably cheaper than down in the south , this new tax will no doubt make the cross border trade in smuggled alcohol a serious money earner at least until the UK brings in its own minimum pricing scheme which is on the cards also . Now a can of cheap beer costs around 1/3 of the price in the North , truckloads of booze will cross the border everyday and undermine the expected tax take of the southern government .

I just hope the people most affected by this remember when the next election comes around and send out a clear message to the shower of 'Nanny State' politicians in power now .

 

[Tubetec]

I guess one possible upside to this is bottom of barrel gut rot scotch or bourbon is now more or less equal in price to our own quality three times distilled and aged Irish whiskey ,US prohibition laws of the 1920's was the final straw of the Irish whiskey industry and an opening for the bootleggers ,after a very long and protracted fight with the crown over revenue.
Slainte mhaith mo charra , good health my friends .

 

[gyraf]

..we've had something similar in Denmark until recently - I think we were forced to give it up by the EU..

Very dependent on how you look at it - but if you politically consider over-drinking a serious problem, then this is probably one of the simpler and potentially efficient solutions..

/Jakob E.

 

[Tubetec]

Yeah but this new set of rules only tries to address problem drinking at the lower end of the socio economic scale , hence why cheaper drinks have only been targeted . We know problem drinking happens right across society not just poor people , so why disproportionately hit that demographic with price rises and potentially cause further hardship ? The price of drinks in a pub hasnt changed at all here by the way .

Theres been a fair amount of discussion on the national air waves about the new rules and both recovered alcoholics and people involved in treating people for alcohol addiction agree , these moves are likely only to cause more hardship , the people who are determined to drink will find a way anyway . Others at the lower end of the economic food chain who enjoy a drink or two of a night are also deprived , its following a more general trend in our country in the last few years where more and more of the money the government pays out in social welfare payments is specifically targeted by rising taxes , Tobacco products being the other big cash cow here , by way of comparison the price of a pouch of rolling tobacco here in Ireland is 3 times the price it costs in Holland , regular cigarette prices havent seen anywhere near the same rise in price over the last few years , again that targets a certain demographic ,mainly poorer people ,who are more like to be smokers to begin with and more likely to smoke hand rolling tobbaco as well.

The old divide between rich and poor has always existed here , probably the same everywhere else . Theres a huge section of the working class here not represented in this current Rainbow Coalition government in Ireland , Sinn Féin for the first time in around 100 years hold the lions share of the public vote yet its the other 2 and a half main parties are running the show . What they dont realise is the ordinary people are taking these targeted and punitive taxes very personally and its automatically feeding into a bootleg trade in alcohol and tobacco from the north into the south .

Anyone from the south of Ireland can drive into the any of the 6 counties of the north and fill up the boot with alcohol especially beer and cider at around 1/3-1/2 the price and cross back over the border , no checks on smaller vehicles at border points .Many tradesmen traveling to the south for work routinely throw in a few slabs of high strenght 6% scrumpy cider or strong beer in the morning to make an easy extra 50 euros on top of the days work . Off licences north of the border will sell us as much booze as we can buy off them , what ends up happening is people are encouraged to stockpile drink instead of just buying what they require on a 'one day at a time' basis from a local off liscence , again thats likely to hurt people who cant control their drinking the most.

 

[Newmarket]

A third / half of the cost ? You can buy a can for less than one Euro in the North ?

 

[Tubetec]

Hi Newmarket ,
Yes in the North of Ireland cans of beer can be had for well less than one euro , I'm way south so its not really worth it unless you fill a van with beer and take the associated risks . I found one place locally who do cans of 4% Dutch gold for 1.25 euros , 4 for a fiver , where the next cheapest beer is around 1.80 a can for maybe a 4.5% alc content .
Ironically a former and most hated minister for justice came out with a statement during the week ,saying were the department of health only going to end up prolonging life expectancy by cutting down access to alcohol , a bottle of good whiskey costs no more than before the price rise , so inevitably people who once were beer and cider drinkers will move to top shelf to get better bang per buck. At best this policy will prove counter productive and will cause even more damage to those most vulnerable to the ravages of 'drink' . Im lucky to be able to moderate my intake ,lots of my most talented musician friends cant .

Heres a little lament(to the drink) by an old drinking buddy of mine I'd like you all to hear , 'The workingmans pint' Mick Lynch aka 'Don for chickens'