A man from Ireland stated he has saved €700 (£583) in cans of Guinness:”I totally stocked up… that would do me for at least a year. I probably got about 500 beers.”
This measure has been considered controversial as it made the country one of the few nations worldwide to introduce a legal floor price for the cost of alcoholic drinks, including beers.
In fact, the minimum unit price of 10 cents per gram of alcohol means an average bottle of wine cannot be sold for less than €7.40, while a can of beer will cost minimum €1.70.
This law came into action on 4 January and, the night before, Brendan decided to stock up for the year.
Brendan saved €700 buying 500 cans of Guinness on the Eve of minimum pricing!! pic.twitter.com/zqO8dD8tGf
— JOE DUFFY (@joeliveline) January 10, 2022
Brendan told presenter Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s phone-in chat show Liveline: “The day before the minimum pricing, one of the smaller retailers had a special offer on Guinness. It was a 12-pack for €10.”
The Irishman receives social welfare, and admitted that the price rise would ‘disproportionately’ affect him. He said he spent about €400 (£333) in the off-license corner shop, and received ‘a few funny looks’ while doing so. Him and a friend of his had to carry the beers home in two trips too.
He calculated that the same shop would have cost him €1,100 (£915) the following day, so he was quite pleased with himself.
While talking about the new regulations, he said: “It’s a discriminatory regulation on the poor because I don’t know if they [the government] carried out any conclusive studies that alcoholism doesn’t affect wealthy people, it only affects lower classes. And there’s no other measures brought in to roll it out across society.”
Ireland, in fact, has seen the biggest jump in price, with vodka and gin costing a minimum of €20.70, while whiskey has reached a minimum of €22.
“I only have two people into the house on a weekend, two friends. So if you want to have food, look at a sporting event and have a few beers – that is seriously curtailed for me with the current prices,” Brendan added.
On 4 January, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “This measure is designed to reduce serious illness and death from alcohol consumption and to reduce the pressure on our health services from alcohol related conditions. It worked in Scotland and I look forward to it working here.”
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