Minister approves MUP and health warning labels

Ireland will introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol and marketing restrictions requiring producers to put health warnings and calorie contents on all bottles.

Alcohol producers will be required to put health warnings on bottles as part of new laws

The new laws are being introduced to reduce a level of drinking that the health minister, Leo Varadkar has called a “public health emergency”.

On average, Irish citizens drink 11.6 litres of alcohol per capita each year – 20% less than 10 years ago, but still the highest in the OECD.

The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 aims to reduce this number to an average of 9.1 litres by 2020.

Under the new legislation, marketing that could appeal to children will be forbidden while tougher restrictions will be imposed for television, newspapers and cinemas.

However, alcohol companies will still be permitted to sponsor sport events due to objections from sporting organisations.

“It’s not an attempt to introduce a nanny state, we’re not trying to close down every pub, it’s just a response to the fact that the majority of Irish adults drink too much and many drink very dangerously,” said Varadkar.

“We’ve some long-standing public health emergencies in Ireland: they’re alcohol, tobacco, obesity and inactivity.

“We will never be able to afford or sustain a quality health service into the future unless we bend the curve on all of those things.”

Cheap alcohol

The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland welcomed the new rules.

“Drinks industry suppliers and manufacturers want to play a role in the development and introduction of evidence-based solutions that will fundamentally address alcohol misuse,” said Ross Mac Mathuna, director of Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland.

“We hope that today can mark the beginning of a new era of engagement, where all of the relevant parties, from drinks manufacturers and suppliers, to publicans, the supermarkets, government departments and medical bodies can come together to devise and implement evidence-based solutions that will have a lasting impact on alcohol misuse in this country.”

Varadkar aims to eradicate cheap alcohol sales in supermarkets, which he said drives binge drinking.

In 2013, the British government abandoned plans to impose a minimum unit price for alcohol due to fierce objection from the drinks industry.