Éamon Ó Cuív urges action on minimum unit alcohol pricing

Hi there, good日 er麗, good日 er麗 Hello I'm very happy to be here, both of you are told, to sing the day of the night, the day of the day of the day, the day and day of the day of the day of the day of the day. It's not my life but my life but my life and my life and my life and my life start. That's what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say that I'm going to say that I'm going to say that when the drink is in, the sense is out. And we know the reality of the truth of that statement. And there can be no doubt that cheap alcohol is having a damaging effect on our country. And that was agreed by the vast majority of the Iraqis here in 2018, when we introduced the Public Health Alcohol Act 2018. And part of the provisions of that were minimum pricing provisions, which would set a minimum price for alcohol. As implemented or commenced, this Act will have no effect on the cost of most sales of alcohol, which are already sold at prices in excess of the proposed minimum that would be set. However, the Act will work to stop really cheap sales of alcohol with very high alcohol content. Now, what basically the Act will do, it sets a minimum price for alcohol per gram. A standard drink has 10 grams of alcohol in it. A standard drink is a half pint of beer, a lager stout, a small 100 milliliter glass of wine or a pub special measure of spirits. The Act states that the cheapest price of alcohol is 10 cents. This would mean that, for example, a glass of lager or beer could not be sold at less than one euro. Or a pint could not be sold at less than two euro. And you can translate that into what bottles would cost and so on. Now, since most drinks are sold above this price, it would mainly affect the sale of very cheap drinks with a strong alcohol content. It is not a tax and would not affect the general price of drink above the minimum price level. In July 2019, Minister Simon Harris said that he hoped to implement the minimum pricing of alcohol in order to reduce as far as possible the significant health harms and financial costs of the way alcohol is consumed in Ireland. These harms and costs include cases of alcohol with tribulated deaths including motor accidents, domestic violence, liver disease, breast cancer and other issues. Deaths per 100,000 in this state are 21.2 as compared to 15.09 in the north. To put it in context, since 2013, since the bill was first mooted, it is said by the Global Burden of Diseases that up to 20,000 deaths in this country could be attributed to alcohol diseases and other related deaths. The excuse given for not acting in this was that people would travel across the border for cheaper drink. This might happen but would not, in my view, affect the general effectiveness of the law. The same argument could be put up in the case of Scotland, which has a land border with England. But the Scottish are happy their bill is having an effect. According to statistics published in Scotland, following the introduction of the Act there, alcohol consumption has dropped to the lowest level on record. And don't forget Scotland has a land border with Britain, with the rest of England and Wales, with England. So, at this particular time, when we add Covid into the mix, and when it is even more important that people keep their wits about them, I think that it is time that we commence this section that was passed by the House here. And not to be put into never-never, but for action. Good morning. And this is the Chair. The Chair. Thank you, King Corley. And I want to begin by welcoming the raising of this very important topic this evening by Deputy O'Keeve. And in the Probe for Government, we have committed to honouring our long-standing commitment to introduce minimum unit pricing of alcohol products in consultation with Northern Ireland. And as Minister of Responsibility for this issue, I want to ensure that the House, from the outset, there is no ambiguity whatsoever on the importance of this issue or on the need to see progress on its implementation. The Public Health Alcohol Act, Deputy, as you rightly said, is a major aspect of the work of the Alcohol and Tobacco Unit in my Department. And as a result, it is an issue that, as Minister, I will make every effort to progress at my time in office. As you said, the Act was enacted on the 70th of October 2018. And you will be aware, King Corley, that the primary policy objectives of the Act are to reduce alcohol consumption to 9.1 litres of pure alcohol per person per annum, delayed initiation of alcohol consumption by children and young people, reduce the harms caused by the misuse of alcohol and regulate the supply and price of alcohol in order to minimise the possibility and incidence of alcohol-related harm. These objectives were developed in recognition that alcohol causes harm to health, significant costs to the Exchequer and that alcohol consumption in Ireland remains high. Section 11 of the Act provides for a minimum pricing of alcohol products of 10 cents per gramme of alcohol. Minimum pricing is considered effective because international evidence shows that those who consume alcohol at harmful levels tend to purchase cheaper alcohol relative to moderate drinkers and therefore the policy impacts harmful drinkers the most. In addition, a minimum price will mean that strong alcohol products are not cheaply available for children and young people. Minimum unit pricing will target cheaper alcohol relative to its strength because the price is determined by and is directly proportioned to the amount of pure alcohol in the drink. This means that the price of individual products will depend on their strength. It does set a floor price beneath which alcohol cannot legally be sold and targets products that are currently very cheap relative to its strength. A sample application, as you said, of a 10 cent minimum price per gramme shows that it will affect only the cheapest of products sold in off-licences. The price of products sold in off-licence trades are likely to be impacted by a minimum price of 10 cents per gramme. For example, under minimum unit pricing, a pub measure of whisky would cost £1.12. A measure of vodka would be £1.05. A pint of Heineken, Lager, Guinness Stout and Bulmer Cider would be £2.25, £1.89 and £2.02 respectively. The aim of the minimum unit pricing is to target harmful drinkers, that is, those who drink so much that they are putting their health at danger. The measure is targeted and attempts to minimise the impact on moderate drinkers. The Government decision in 2013, which approved the introduction of a minimum unit pricing regime, did so on the basis that minimum pricing would be introduced simultaneously here and in Northern Ireland. The position of an all-island cooperation is reaffirmed in the programme of Government. The reason for simultaneous introduction is to allake concerns in relation to possible impacts on cross-border trade if the measure was to be introduced in one jurisdiction only. We welcome the recent commitment from Minister Swan to hold a full public consultation on the introduction of minimum unit pricing in Northern Ireland. Following on from a letter which I sent him last month, I want to reiterate again that I look forward with Minister Swan and this important public health measure, so that both jurisdictions can avail of the benefit of the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol products. You are right, you are right, Scotland has been a success and we would hope that we will be able to follow Scotland in conjunction with our colleagues in Northern Ireland. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have listened carefully to what you have said and of course everything you have said backs the case I have made. This is a very desirable measure. And as anybody who examines it will see, what it hits really hard are very, very cheap, high alcohol content drinks. If they have a very low alcohol content, then of course you could sell them in volume more cheaply because it won't have the same impact, but what it hits is the alcohol content of the drink. We need to do this. We need to do this. Now you haven't addressed why Scotland were able to do it with a land border, with England, and we can't do it. And give the example for the other jurisdiction on this island to get on with the job. Now of course I, like anybody else here, would much prefer that everything was done on an all Ireland basis. And it would be much better if two years ago both sides had jumped and got on with this. But since 2013 we have been putting this on the long finger. And there is no reason we couldn't act unilaterally. I'm glad that Minister Ryan is here. Because as Minister Ryan knows, we did distort the market by putting a carbon tax on products here that's not in Northern Ireland. And yes there was abuses of it to a certain level, but it did certainly. Improve things down here. Yes we have much cheaper fuel in terms of petrol and diesel than Northern Ireland. And yes people come over the border to buy and it distorts trade. Now this is a much more public good than either of those two things because it's going to save a huge number of lives. I think we need a commitment from the Government here tonight. That before this year is out, with or without Northern Ireland, this particular provision will be commenced. And maybe that would encourage them to move in a progressive way. To ensure, as I said all we are hitting here, we are not trying to stop people accessing alcohol at the normal prices they access it. What you are hitting here is the abuse of alcohol, which as you point out, is people buying the very high alcohol content drinks, I'm not going to name them here tonight, at an absolutely ridiculously low price and doing incredible damage. And we know that particularly young people are tempted in this direction. Thank you and to conclude the early analysis from the introduction of the minimum unit pricing in Scotland shows that the policy is successful in targeting harmful drinking. Scotland introduced minimum pricing in May 2018 and subsequent to its introduction, alcohol consumption figures in Scotland were at their lowest rate for 25 years. We have an issue in this country and I have a few issues here. Alcohol consumption in Ireland almost trebled over the four decades between 1960 and 2000, from 4.9% to 14.1 litres of pure alcohol per capita aged over 15 years. The rapid rise came because alcohol became more affordable and also much more available. Now, current consumption in Ireland is down to 11 litres. We want to get it down to 9.1 litres and we have not reached the target of over 21%. We want to get down to 9.1 litres by 2020. But again, in 2019, an analysis published by the British Medical Journal found an introduction of minimum unit pricing has led to a 7.6% decrease in purchase grams of alcohol per household. The analysis concluded that minimum pricing has a target effect on those who purchased the most alcohol. The reductions of purchased alcohol occurred in the households that bought the most alcohol. A minimum unit pricing policy, I believe, and I did, and my department believes, would be most effective if we do work together with our colleagues in Northern Ireland, so that both jurisdictions can introduce the policy simultaneously. If we proceed with the policy unilaterally, I think we risk undermining its effectiveness by continuing to provide consumers with the options to avoid minimum pricing by crossing the border to access cheaper alcohol. We are committed to the introduction of minimum unit pricing as set out in the program of government. I very much look forward to implementing the policy when the conditions are in place that it will be effective. And just one other aspect is, in Scotland, I think that in the deaths related to alcohol, I think in Glasgow, reduced by 20%, which is absolutely staggering. So we have a major fight in our hands. And I just want to thank the people from Alcohol Action Ireland who I have met and many other stakeholders. We are committed and we are united into tackling this issue. Thank you. Go back on camera. And I'm funding and I think part of the policy will make an on-power market 항-planning työ stove to the救 -, to the functioning of the сторону of our government. Thank you. Thank you. I'm really happy to see that in which you've got permission to make change the action with the Lecture 6th Cross. Go on,. Whatever you think we've got permission to have the public health reports is working session in a far outして go on, I say that, thank you, Mr. Fnk.