You Could Notice A Big Hike In The Cost Of Booze Very Soon

If you enjoy a glass of wine or a craft beer at home after a long day, you might be paying a lot more for your tipple if Leo Varadkar has his way.

The Taoiseach revealed last night on Vincent Browne’s show that he is planning to raise the cost of buying alcohol in off-licenses and supermarkets in an attempt to reduce the nation’s drinking.

Varadkar described alcohol as a “mindbending drug”, adding that minimum unit pricing would be part of a wider plan to discourage people from drinking at home.

“[The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill] will do a number of things: it is trying to make alcohol less visible, because it almost treated now like a normal grocery product, when we all know it isn’t – it’s a mind-bending drug that makes us all do things we shouldn’t do and say things we wouldn’t otherwise say, and we all need to drink a lot less of it.”

He added that those who drink in restaurants and bars would not be impacted by the price increases.

“It is not about making the bottle of wine you drink with your pizza more expensive, or the glass of wine you have in the pub. But it is about getting rid of people who buy huge amounts of alcohol in very low prices and getting extremely drunk.

“Minimum unit pricing shouldn’t affect the price of alcohol in the restaurant, the cafe, the pub or the hotel. But it will eliminate very cheap alcohol from supermarkets and off-licensees.”

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