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State Minister Patrick O’Donovan has urged people to “drown the shamrock with water” on St. Patrick’s Day instead of alcohol.
The Minister of State of the Office of Public Works urged people to stay home tomorrow.
O’Donovan said it was a “massive failure” that the alcohol sale was not “resolved” before Christmas.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, the Limerick TD said it believes the country paid “a very high price” for not addressing the volume of alcohol that could be purchased, as well as off-license business hours.
“We didn’t approach it as a country, and I’m very critical of the way we didn’t. It was a massive failure, because we didn’t tackle it before Christmas and I think it paid a very high price for it.”
He added that “we have seen some scandalous things” as a result of what he called the “uncontrolled sale of alcohol.”
However, O’Donovan said he believes most people are heeding public health advice.
“People are getting the message that the antics and the bullshit have done enough damage.”
But he said the meetings before Christmas and the meetings at funerals “caused enormous damage.”
Speaking about the same program, Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland President Frank Murray called for the minimum unit price to be implemented immediately.
Professor Murray said there is a “need for speed” and “every day we put off doing this we are doing more damage.”
He said that trying to implement this strategy in conjunction with the Northern Irish authorities is “less than perfect” and that Ireland should “be first” on the issue of unit prices.
Professor Murray said there is a need for urgent action on alcohol consumption in Ireland, as he argued that if a floor price were introduced, there would be a “net gain” for the Treasury in relation to the costs of health, social services and productivity. .
The Irish Director of Beverages, for his part, described the possibility of the Government acting on the minimum unit price, independently of Northern Ireland, as “a dangerous proposition at the moment”.
Patricia Callan said the organization is not against minimum unit prices, but Drinks Ireland is asking the Government to redouble its efforts with its Northern Irish counterparts to do so jointly on the island of Ireland, which she claims is ” the critical “.
He said people will continue to drive north to buy alcohol.
Ms Callan said there are many cross-border purchases and recent studies show that 7% of total alcohol purchases in the Republic come from Northern Ireland.
There are substantial spikes in traffic, whenever there is a change in the exchange rate or excise rate, Ms. Callan added.
He said that due to the price differential, a recent report from Ibec showed that there is a risk of a loss of 94 million euros to the Treasury in terms of lost revenue because alcohol prices in Ireland are the second most expensive in the EU. .
She said that in the last recession people traveled from Cork to Northern Ireland to buy cheap drinks and when they did, they did all their shopping there too.
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