Restaurants and pubs across Ireland are offering “bottomless brunches” that appear to contravene national alcohol legislation, a new study suggests.
A so-called bottomless brunch is when a venue offers a set menu for a set price, where customers can then consume an unlimited number of alcoholic drinks within a set time frame. It is contingent on the purchasing of food.
In recent years the Government has sought to reduce the consumption of alcohol by introducing various regulations under the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018.
Under the Act alcohol should not be sold or supplied at a reduced price or for free in exchange for a person buying more alcohol products or another product or service.
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It stipulates that the price charged for alcohol for three days or fewer should not be less than what was charged on the day before the commencement of the period, and advertising of such deals is prohibited. These regulations came into effect in January 2021.
However, a new study from Technological University of the Shannon, published on Friday, points to “numerous examples” of venues offering unlimited alcohol for a fixed price over a set time period through “bottomless brunches”.
It has been published in the journal Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Public Health.
In less than four hours of online searching, researchers identified 18 establishments offering such deals: five in Dublin, five in Cork, two in Limerick, two in Galway, and one each in counties Kilkenny, Sligo, Tipperary, and Athlone. The drinks on offer included prosecco, mimosas and bellinis.
“Alcohol control legislation without robust enforcement may be of little use in restricting illegal alcohol promotion,” the authors said.
“A robust response from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Government is required to respond to alcohol as a commercial determinant of health.”
Dr Frank Houghton, co-author of the study, and lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at TUS, said alcohol remained “a clear and present danger” to population health in Ireland.
“The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 was a landmark piece of legislation, but without robust enforcement it risks being undermined by practices such as bottomless brunches,” he said. “Direct and purposeful leadership is now needed to protect public health.”
Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI), said this was the first time the issue had been highlighted to him.
“We can see there’s growth in this area,” he said. “Over the last four or five years, there’s been a boom in bottomless brunches; it isn’t a new phenomenon; we were talking about it before the pandemic.
“Businesses will try and change their market mix. But every business will try to abide by the law, whether that’s about outdoor seating or something else. But this hasn’t been raised with me before, and as far as I’m aware no business has faced [sanctions] for it.”
