Plans to require health warnings on alcohol products were thought up in a “very different” time to the current period of global economic uncertainty, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke privately warned a Cabinet colleague.
The Government is expected to delay requirements for alcohol products to carry warnings about the links between alcohol consumption, liver disease and cancer.
The mandatory health labelling had been due to be introduced next year, but it is expected will now not come into force until 2029.
In a May 15th letter, Mr Burke asked Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to consider pushing back the health labelling plans in light of the “profound” risk Ireland was facing from the current global economic uncertainty.
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The idea for health warning labels on alcohol was “developed at a time when geopolitical economic pressures were very different to those being experienced at present”, he told Ms Carroll MacNeill.
The danger of US president Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff threats starting a transatlantic trade war with the European Union is causing significant concern inside Government including on its impact on Irish exports of whiskey and other alcohol products.
Mr Burke appealed to his Fine Gael colleague to take these new circumstances into account and “pause” plans for alcohol labelling.
“Recent months have seen significant global economic uncertainty and a rapidly shifting trading landscape – which you will be aware could have profound competitiveness implications for small open economies like Ireland,” he wrote.
The fact Mr Burke had asked Ms Carroll MacNeill to delay the introduction of the labelling was previously reported but this is the first time the contents of his letter have been reported.
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A copy of his letter to the Minister for Health – released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act – said the new labelling rules would lead to higher prices for consumers.
“The proposed measures will mean increased production and sale costs for Irish producers and importers, and add to the price payable by consumers, at a time when prices are also rising due to a multitude of other factors,” Mr Burke wrote.
This would come at the same time companies and producers were already seeing “very significant disruption” to their supply chains, he said.
“Notwithstanding the overarching health benefits of the proposal, I would ask you to consider pausing the introduction of the proposed new requirements,” the correspondence said.
It is expected a decision will be taken at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to defer the new rules for several years.
In his letter, Mr Burke said Ireland’s plans had faced pushback from other EU governments, as it was believed the labelling rules would hamper the movement of trade and goods within the bloc’s single market.
There had also been intense lobbying from the drinks industry, over the “likely negative impact on sales and costs,” he said.
