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Leo Varadkar has a plan to put calorie counts on beer bottles

Five new health warnings are to appear on every alcohol product under proposed new rules.

CALORIES COUNTS WILL soon be appearing on every bottle of alcohol under new health laws.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar plans to introduce new compulsory health warnings on all alcohol products under the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill which is due to be published shortly.

So, when consumers reach for a beer what will they see?

The Department of Health said there will be five additional pieces of information on the labels.

A general health warning about alcohol, a warning on the risks of drinking while pregnant, as well as the calorie counts will appear on the label.

The amount of pure alcohol as measured in grams will also be included.

The labels will also include a link to a website due to be established by the HSE to provide public health information and advice to the public in relation to alcohol misuse.

The department said it has commissioned research on how to best include this information on the labels in the most clear and efficient way.

The Bill is at an advanced stage and remains a priority, said the Health Department.

If approved by government, the legislation will be the most far reaching alcohol legislation to date.

Read: There’s a 1916 chocolate bar and some people aren’t happy about it>

Read: Watch out civil servants – Renua are gunning for you>

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69 Comments
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    Mute Niall O' Sullivan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:00 PM

    I’ve decided to start a brand of beer and call it “Responsibly”. That way all the other booze makers will have to advertise me on their products – “Drink Responsibly”.

    And now that we know how many calories are in booze, I’ve decided to stop eating.

    360
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    Mute Nira Line
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:37 PM

    Can’t even relax for a bottle of beer without having Leo ramming his ideology down my throat.

    Meanwhile thanks to Aodhan, I’ll have to look at junkies shooting up taxpayer funded heroin across the street.

    192
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    Mute The Viking
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:21 PM

    Well i agree with Leo .. We should care about how many calories are in a bottle of beer.. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 hrs later : Im on my sixth bottle and I dont give a $hit about calories.. More beer… Get us another one out the fridge mate..

    103
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    Mute lavbeer
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:09 PM

    Leo and his sound bytes. He is comjng after you for UHI. This will be a ripoff putting Tierney and his unions in the shade

    35
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    Mute Mick Hannigan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:14 PM

    Niall, that made me laugh, nobody who drinks will really give two shitss about calories on a beer bottle, go fix the health system in general ya twit, it’s at the stage they don’t want us to Eaton drink with all the crap, everything is bad for us, we get it, now fcuk offfff

    68
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    Mute Fozz
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:58 PM

    No harm in this…put the info on for those interested…those not interested will simply ignore.

    161
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    Mute Henry Porter
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:18 PM

    I’d prefer not to know.

    71
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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:19 PM

    i.e. everyone will simply ignore.

    69
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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:57 PM

    That’s going to make a huge difference to people’s consumption, well done to all the highly paid people involved in this initiative.

    152
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    Mute Niall O' Sullivan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:02 PM

    Leo is kicking himself he didn’t succeed in convincing Noonan to increase booze prices and bring in minimum pricing. That was his only hope of having anything positive at all on his CV from his tenure in health.

    87
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    Mute Diarmuid O'Connor
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:18 PM

    minimum booze pricing being a positive on his CV is a matter of opinion.

    93
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    Mute Mick Kavanagh
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:26 PM

    Minimum pricing won’t effect the person consuming the alcohol, it will effects the family of the person consuming the alcohol.

    The person will drink the same amount if they have an addiction but will spend less money on food, heating, etc…..minimum pricing is a good revenue stream but does nothing to help the person with the problem.

    110
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    Mute Paul P O'Sullivan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 10:38 PM

    100% agree. Its another form of tax of the social and responsible drinkers. An alcoholic will drink regardless.

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    Mute Colm Monaghan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:38 PM

    Fix the hospital waiting lists Leo. Instead of sending out soundbites that nobody cares about… Nurses are threatening strike action, and you’re labeling beer bottles!! Sums this government up really..

    140
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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:35 PM

    Wouldn’t it be more in his line to fix the health service?

    114
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    Mute James Delaney
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:18 PM

    How much of our health services are used up due to Alcohol ?

    34
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    Mute john Appleseed
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:37 PM

    But is it the calories that are causing the issue? I don’t think so

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    Mute Joe Arthur
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    Nov 4th 2015, 8:16 AM

    To be fair, high calorie intakes increase blood pressure and are bad for the heart.

    How is there any dispute in what Varadkar is putting forward? If you don’t care about the calories, don’t look at them. And those of us who do care like to know how many we’re consuming.

    7
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    Mute Robert Moore
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:39 PM

    That will get the people off the trolleys.

    110
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    Mute Teddington
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:02 PM

    I’m swapping to cans so!

    104
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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:31 PM

    Just pour it straight into the glass and don’t look at the label..

    110
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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:42 PM

    Jeasus would he get on & do something about the hospital overcrowding instead of this c**p which wont matter a dam at the end of the day!

    77
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    Mute Timber Planks
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:06 PM

    Yeah, better off to leave all the public health staff in the department get paid for doing fu€k all instead of actually doing their job! Public health can never have a positive impact!

    26
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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:03 PM

    Emm, any chance of putting the patients that are on trolleys & chairs into hospital beds mr varadkar and stop pissing about on less important matters.

    67
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:52 PM

    I understand what a unit of alcohol is. It is 10ml of pure alcohol. It is easy to work out how many units a drink has. One unit of pure alcohol has about 56 calories in it, not including what it’s mixed with.
    Does anyone know where the hell does this “standard drink” thing come from? Who made that up? It wreaks my head. It’s like it was plucked out of the air. Beer could be 3.5% or 7%. I’ve heard people say that one standard drink is a glass of beer. That’s just misleading.

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    Mute DeeJay
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:03 PM

    its standard units. multiply alcohol volume percentage by total volume. ie a 4% vol beer by half a litre would equal 2 units

    7
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:14 PM

    No that’s what I used to think. It’s different.
    A can of 500ml Carlsberg at 4.3% has 2.2 Units of alcohol. It’s easy to work out.
    However it contains 1.7 standard drinks. “Standard Drinks” is the measurement we use it Ireland for some weird reason.

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    Mute Malachi
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:20 PM

    The standard drink ‘unit’ is apparently the same as the ‘unit of alcohol’;

    http://www.drinkaware.ie/know-your-drinking/how-many-standard-drinks/

    That’s 10mls of ethanol.

    7
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:47 PM

    I think I get it now. When it comes to alcohol, 10 grams of alcohol is not the same at 10 ml of alcohol. Other countries use 10ml and we use 10grams as a unit.

    13
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    Mute Malachi
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:53 PM

    No. 10ml = 10g.

    The SI unit for solid mass is the kilogram. 10g is 1/100th of that.

    The SI unit for liquid/gas mass (kilograms can be used too) is the litre.

    10ml is 1/100th of a litre.

    A litre = a kilogram. They are both units of mass but the litre is often used for liquids and gases.

    3
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    Mute Malachi
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:55 PM

    Whoops, I meant litre is the SI unit of volume. They are still the same though.

    7
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:56 PM

    No 10ml = 10g when you’re talking about water. Alcohol is less dense. It’s very confusing altogether.

    14
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    Mute Malachi
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:20 PM

    Yeah you’re right. Ethanol is somewhat less dense than water at around 0.78g/cm^3, however since beer has almost exactly the same density (1.01g/cm^3) as water, that may be where the confusion comes from.

    10ml ethanol =/= 10ml ethanol
    10ml beer = 10ml beer (almost)

    4
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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:47 PM

    Jazus lads me head is spinning after that, and I haven’t even had a drink.

    44
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    Mute Malachi
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:50 PM

    Ah fook, I meant that 10 ml of ethanol isn’t equal to 10 *grams* of ethanol while 10 ml beer is equal to 10 g beer.

    Coffee needed.

    7
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    Mute Willy
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:49 PM

    Another deflection from the disastrous health services.. Go away Leo, please..

    54
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    Mute Wrath of Cheney
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:01 PM

    Another big government nanny state measure being introduced by Fine Gael who are supposedly a “right wing party”.

    52
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    Mute Supernova
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:08 PM

    Why is your profile avatar of someone being tortured using the water boarding technique?

    43
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    Mute Tweed Cap
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:18 PM

    A Dead brain cell count per bottle would more appropriate but equally ineffective

    38
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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:00 PM

    Something else to ignore

    35
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    Mute Des Doran
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:02 PM

    Answer him better , to put patients into beds , and cut waiting lists ,
    Not count beer bottles ,
    This Government will drive us all to Drink.

    33
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    Mute glenoir1
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:48 PM

    Oh for gods sake Leo what about warning people about aspartame which is banned in Australia and us in all diet drunks yoghurts etc in Ireland. and then Leo what about the appalling conditions people have to face in acute psychiatric units especially in limerick/ Clare and Vision For Change never got implemented. there have been 3 suicides in Clare area recently. Well Leo!

    28
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    Mute Brian MAGEE
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:04 PM

    when you made the post, did you decide to tell a blatant lie or are you just ignorant?

    Here you’ll find the DIet Coke ingredient ussed in Australia: http://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/brands/diet-coke/diet-coca-cola-caffeine-free
    *********************************
    Carbonated Purified Water, Flavour, Colour (Caramel 150d), Food Acids (338, 330), Sweeteners (951, 950), Preservative (211).

    Contains Phenylalanine.
    *******************

    look up E951, guess what its Aspartame. now go and put your tinfoil hat back on.

    15
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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:14 PM

    This man is some notice box with more useless info to distract from his 420 million overrun in health

    25
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    Mute Denis Maher
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:47 PM

    I don’t know too many drinkers who read beer bottle labels, much less care about the calories inside and what’s the proposal for where most alcohol is consumed smarty pants, beer glasses ??? – Can you try do something constructive and lay off the gimmics.

    23
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    Mute Robert Lester
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:18 PM

    That’s Leo, a hell of a guy. Nothing but the best interests of the people in his heart, we should make him president of the universe.

    22
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    Mute SCO Electrical
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:18 PM

    switch to cans… Problem solved

    21
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    Mute Cardio Reilly
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:50 PM

    And on sauce bottles

    21
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    Mute Keith Boland
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:43 PM

    You know this really enrages me the absolute senseless meaningless ideas they come up with but can’t deal with the beds crisis they are actually pathetic. They not got a clue what’s really going on .

    20
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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:10 PM

    Leo, how about a ban on Trans Fats like Barack Obama has done for all 350 million US citizens from 2018.
    Trans fats ban in your diet can completely reverse Diabetes type 2. Trans fats may also be root cause of Alzheimer’s Disease.

    This research suggests that this is a strong possibility: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3347702/
    “Overall, our results show that subtle changes in cell membrane lipid composition can greatly influence γ-secretase activity and processivity, suggesting that relatively small changes in lipid membrane composition (e.g type of fat)may affect the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease at least as much as do presenilin or APP (Amlyoid protein precursor) mutations.”

    19
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:48 PM

    Trans fats, hydrogenated fats, are guaranteed to produce early morbidities and mortalities in all people, depending on level of consumption.

    The problem is that banning trans fats would trigger a hostile reaction from processed food manufacturers and potential legal action against the State, just like big tobacco companies have done. Of course, the public health improvement factor resulting from the total elimination of transfats would be very beneficial, much more so than knowing that beer has a high caloric value and is potentially fattening.

    I avoid transfats at all costs.

    Neuville, you do a public service in disseminating this information. Thank you.

    14
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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Nov 5th 2015, 7:26 PM

    @FionaD … a public service in disseminating this information …. good to hear. Thanks.

    Trans Fats German patent number 141,029. Why eat a German patent when you can eat real food.
    Ban of Trans fats in your diet can completely reverse Diabetes Type 2.

    1
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    Mute @mdmak33
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:43 PM

    Yeah,very important Leo.

    15
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    Mute David O'sullivan
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:09 PM

    Irish beer brands are full of agents they won’t even be obliged to put on the label. I only want to see one thing printed on my beer – Reinheitsgebot – German for no sh*t added.

    15
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:39 PM

    Between this and the UN report on red meat it’s amazing how many Journal commenters seemingly are outright disgusted at being provided with objective information to be used for their own informed decision.

    14
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    Mute Todd Unctuous
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:45 PM

    FFS would they not focus their attention on something that matters. Who cares

    9
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    Mute Mindfulirish
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:16 PM

    A lot more important things to be doing Leo like building children’s hospital somewhere access able to everybody and especially those with sick children. I was stuck in St James hospital in traffic today trying to get out of the complex and I dread to think what it would be like trying to drive there with a sick child. The stupid people who plan to build another hospital within these grounds must be corrupt as it is risking lives.

    8
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    Mute molly coddled
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    Nov 4th 2015, 12:16 AM

    Seriously? ‘Spose he just pushes past those those he didn’t see all. the trolleys lining hospital walls

    5
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    Mute Cill Dará Abú
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    Nov 4th 2015, 2:01 AM

    Be so much more helpful if he sorted out the hospital crisis. You know maybe hire the odd doctor or two. Maybe even the odd nurse here and there. And buy a few extra beds, maybe reopen a ward two in different hospitals. Maybe now just maybe, if he fixed what is broken he maybe be able to help the other parts of the health system.

    4
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    Mute Harry Trafford
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:51 PM

    Will make working out the calorie count of my liquid diet very easy.

    4
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    Mute Tony Hartigan
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    Nov 4th 2015, 8:55 AM

    He would be better off solving the trolly scandal.

    3
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    Mute Seamus Brady
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    Nov 4th 2015, 1:15 AM

    The headline should have been Minster for fizzy drinks turns to beer

    3
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    Mute John Malone
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    Nov 4th 2015, 5:51 AM

    Nanny state antics…FIX THE HSE……The jjob you are getting overpaid for….

    2
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    Mute Tony Hartigan
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    Nov 4th 2015, 8:57 AM

    This is to divert us away from his major problem HEALTH. D

    1
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    Mute dave muller
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    Nov 4th 2015, 6:34 AM

    Will this pass the “sugar lobby” who it appears control the policy making of the Government?

    1
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Nov 4th 2015, 6:04 PM

    I think that I will brew my own and they can screw that idea… lol.

    1
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Nov 4th 2015, 6:05 PM

    I do not think labelling beer bottles would make and difference to many or even that man in that photo, as he seems not to have a back to his fridge lol.

    1
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    Mute JIMINYJELIKERS
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 10:08 PM

    It’s Genius

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    Mute thomas
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    Nov 4th 2015, 10:35 AM

    There no calories in beer!!!

    1
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