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graph: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Minimum unit pricing for alcohol approved by Cabinet - but it won't kick in until January 2022

Concerns were raised about the difference in the price of alcohol in the North.

CABINET HAS SIGNED off on minimum unit pricing for alcohol – but it won’t take affect until 1 January 2022.

The new measures, which won’t kick in until the first week of next year, will put the price of alcohol at a minimum of 10c per gram.

Cheap drinks with a high alcohol content – such as supermarket own-brands of spirits – are the main drinks that would increase in price after minimum unit pricing is introduced.

It mean the standard bottle of wine cannot be sold for less than €7.75, while a standard bottle of spirits cannot be sold for under €20.

There had been speculation in recent weeks that the new changes could kick in sooner rather than later.

However, concerns had been expressed – by lobby group Drink Ireland and government TDs – that if minimum unit pricing was introduced in the next few weeks, the same should be done in Northern Ireland.

However, Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann said such a measure wouldn’t be introduced until 2023.

An Irish government spokesperson said this evening that ministers agreed the timeline of January 2022 “to give more time” for all stakeholders to prepare for the changes.
In 2018, Scotland became the first country in the EU to bring in minimum unit pricing – a model which Ireland is following.

Data reported in June showed that consumption levels of alcohol had dropped to the lowest level since records began in the early 1990s.

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    Mute Billy Nomates
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 8:33 AM

    Won’t hear from him again

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 8:44 AM

    Drunk Monopoly : Fair play to him for landing in Siberia, He saved a bit of time by going straight to jail, Not passing Go and not collecting $200.

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    Mute Devilsavocado
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 8:26 AM

    I hate that when I’m so drunk and get on the wrong plane by mistake, the last time it happened the pilot was sound,, he dropped me off in Singapore then continued on to New York,, crazy day…..

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    Mute izotope
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 9:25 AM

    Twas Boris Yeltsin again.

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    Mute WreckDefier
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 11:37 AM

    He won’t be russian into something like that again

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    Mute Paul
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 8:58 AM

    Black Dolphin has a spare bed for him

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 8:24 AM

    Send him to New Zealand with a live streaming go-pro on him

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    Mute alan doyle
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 2:13 PM

    Tool. Imagine landing in Kabul, of all places, plastered. Can’t think the local cops would be too pleased to see a drunk and a drunk Russian. He’s lucky it landed where it did by comparison

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    Mute Darren Bates
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 3:00 PM

    @alan doyle: Afghans can’t handle their drink. You hear of incidents all the time of drunk Afghans causing trouble in Germany.

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    Mute Ray Jakans
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 12:10 PM

    Nothing unusual. Its russia

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Jan 23rd 2019, 12:22 PM

    They shoulda flown the drunk to Timbuctoo and dumped him there.

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