A chara, – The proposal for an alcohol-related levy on the drinks industry from Alcohol Action Ireland, a charity funded by the HSE, represents another covert tax. It is naive in the extreme to believe that such a levy would not be passed in its entirety to customers. The answer to the abuse of alcohol lies in education, not taxation. – Is mise,
Madam, – Calls for a social responsibility levy to be imposed on the drinks industry to compensate the State for picking up the tab for irresponsible drinking are well intentioned, but is I fear tilting at windmills (October 25th).
In the UK we have the paradox of having some 50-plus pubs closing down each week while the number of premises that can actually serve alcohol is at its highest since records began. The local pub cannot hope to compete with the local supermarket which is selling alcohol at a loss. The result is that our young are getting themselves boozed up on cheap drinks before heading off to our towns and cities to create havoc, ending up in the gutter, a police station or more concerning the local hospital.
Calls by the British Medical Association to ban the advertising of alcohol has our new government vacillating to respond and in Scotland, two initiatives to combat binge drinking have recently been defeated in their legislature (raising to 21 the minimum age to purchase alcohol and the introduction of a minimum price per unit).
Most of us drink responsibly but we all have to pay for the actions of those who end up in A E because of drink-related activities. We mustn’t forget the middle-aged and middle-classes who perhaps drink more than they should at home and end up in a general ward later on because of it.
It is understandable for the Government to prevaricate in taking on the drinks industry – a powerful lobby indeed – but take them on it must. Excessive drinking is alive and not well. It is a social time bomb and the clock is ticking. – Yours, etc,