More than 11 per cent of all consumer expenditure now goes on alcohol, a new report has found. However, although alcohol intake has risen, the Republic still has one of the lowest rates of consumption in the EU.

The report entitled, The Drinks Industry in Ireland, said more than 43,000 people are now employed in the sector, with wage level rising significantly in recent years.

The report, commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group, was written by Mr Anthony Foley of Dublin City University.

He said about three-quarters of the adult population consumes alcohol in the Republic, compared to 80 per cent in the Netherlands, 83 per cent in Spain and 90 per cent in the UK.

The report said the State has more than 10,000 licensed premises, with 80 per cent of these public houses and the rest other types of licensed retail outlets.

The report states that many outlets have "quite small turnovers" with only 1 per cent achieving sales in excess of £1 million (€1.26 million) per annum. "At the lower end of the scale almost 70 per cent of establishments have annual sales levels of £150,000 or less, which amounts to £420 per day," the report states.

It adds that licensed premises with the highest turnover are in the Dublin area. For example, 7.2 per cent of pubs in the city achieve turnover of between £1 and £2 million.

The report said beer accounts for 61 per cent of the drinks market, spirits take up 18 per cent and other alcohol products account for about 11 per cent.

The dominance of beer in the market has decreased from 70.4 per cent in 1984, while the share of the market for wine has gone from six per cent in 1984 to 9.3 per cent in 1996. The share for cider has gone from 2 per cent to 6.3 per cent in the same period.

Most of the employment provided by the industry came from the distribution and retail trade, with drink manufacturing now a small part of the total, said the report.

Mr Foley pointed out that jobs created in the industry have a strong multiplier effect - for example he suggested that 4,900 manufacturing jobs generate an additional 11,000 services jobs. In addition to these, there is the purchasing of domestic raw materials which generates additional job opportunities.

The drinks industry is substantially more skill intensive than manufacturing as a whole, the report stated. Some 23 per cent of drink industry employees were in the administrative and technical category compared to 13.9 per cent for manufacturing as a whole.

"The retail segment is also quite skill intensive with 70 per cent of staff being in skilled or managerial grades," it added.

In terms of manufacturing the report said there are 38 enterprises involved in producing beverages. Of these seven were in distilling, 11 were in beer and malt and 20 were in cider and soft drinks.

Wages and salaries per employee are more than £25,000 per year, compared to £15,000 in manufacturing generally.