Ireland has gained a degree of global attention for its strides in recent years to address long-standing alcohol issues. In common with many European countries, we have high levels of alcohol consumption along with particularly risky patterns of drinking. For example, Ireland has the 8th highest rate of heavy episodic drinking in OECD countries. Concern about the consequent levels of alcohol harm led to a series of legislative measures, passed in 2018 – the Public Health (Alcohol) Act which are based on the World Health Organization’s ‘best buys’ of alcohol policy. Brought forward by then Minister for Health now Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and fiercely resisted by vested interests, it includes Minimum Unit Pricing, some modest controls on alcohol advertising and some restrictions on sales – e.g. alcohol products for sale in supermarkets must be in a designated zone. A particularly high-profile measure is comprehensive health information labelling on alcohol products including cancer warnings.
Progress, though, has been slow in implementing these measures – for example a broadcast watershed on alcohol advertisements will not be required until Jan 2025 and the health warnings will not be seen until May 2026. However, there are signs of some tempering of Ireland’s relationship with alcohol consumption having dropped by over 7% since the legislation was passed; though still some 12% above a government target of 9.1 litres per capita set in 2013 and planned to be achieved by 2020.
Sale of Alcohol Bill
However, this tentative progress is set to be undone by another wing of the government. The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, is bringing forward significant proposals to increase the availability of alcohol though significant changes in licensing laws. The General Scheme of the Sale of Alcohol bill was published in late 2022 and includes:
- The general extension of licensing hours of all bars/restaurants from 11.30pm to 12.30am.
- The facilitation of late-night opening of bars to 2.30am.
- The extension of nightclub hours to 6am.
- The introduction of cultural amenity licenses to venues not usually having a license.
- The revoking of the requirement to extinguish a license before opening a new premises. This will increase the number and density of alcohol outlets.
The legislation is being promoted as a means of simplifying Ireland’s complex licensing laws and of enhancing the night-time economy. While no-one is arguing against the former reason, there is significant concern about the second. The legislation has its origins in the 2021 report from the Taskforce on the Night-time Economy – a body which included representatives from multiple government departments but nobody from the Department of Health.
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), along with other public health advocates, has been highlighting the impacts of such measures, both on individuals and families, but also in relation to the increased burden on public services. For example, international evidence suggests that a one-hour extension of alcohol trading hours is likely to lead to a:
- 16% increase in alcohol related crime
- 30% increase in traffic collisions in rural areas
- 34% increase in alcohol related injuries requiring hospital treatment
The converse is also true with reductions in licensing hours having been shown to reduce harm – e.g. recently published research found that a two-hour reduction in late-night trading in New South Wales, led to a 29% reduction in reported rates of domestic violence assaults.
Calls for Health Impact Assessment
The bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) Justice Committee which recommended in March 2023 that a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) should be carried out on the proposals. An HIA is a practical approach used to judge the potential health effects of a proposed policy, programme, or project on a population, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Detailed guidance for the government on this is available through the Institute of Public Health.
AAI has sought on multiple occasions to get a clear answer from the Minister as to when, or indeed if, such an assessment would be done. None has been forthcoming with the Minister citing instead an earlier consultation process and promising to press ahead with introducing the legislation to the Oireachtas in Spring 2024, with a view towards introducing the changes by the summer. However, this ignores the difference between seeking views from interested parties and actually producing detailed information on the likely additional burden on services.
Recently, 75 organisations and advocates signed an open letter to the leaders of the three political parties which form the government coalition, calling for an HIA before the bill is introduced to the Oireachtas.
They included organisations from a wide range of areas including mental health, children’s services, emergency medicine, cancer, heart and liver diseases, road safety, domestic and sexual violence, as well as community groups, academics, legal experts, and individuals with significant lived experience of alcohol harm who have campaigned for many years on alcohol issues.
Their worry about the bill’s impact is shared by the public with recent polling data finding that 67% of people were concerned about the potential impact on public services (such as Emergency Departments, ambulances, Gardaí, and transport) due to the proposed extension of opening hours for pubs, late bars, and clubs.
We are heartened by this considerable support for a common-sense approach to the bill’s proposals. At the very least our elected representatives should have access to data on the full costs of what is being proposed before voting on it. We are following up with a concerted campaign in the media and with politicians about the issues.
Policy incoherence
Beyond the immediate aspect of this particular bill, the entire episode points to the lack of coherent management of alcohol issues across government. This is evident in many other areas – for example the level of alcohol excise duties is determined by the Department of Finance with no clear input from the Department of Health on assessing their effectiveness in relation to alcohol harm. Not surprisingly these duties have not changed in a decade.
Other government bodies provide grants to the alcohol industry e.g. Enterprise Ireland recently gave a grant of €7.5 million to the global alcohol giant, Diageo, towards the construction of a new ‘sustainable’ production facility. AAI has estimated that over the past decade the government has provided over €115 million by way of investments and subsidies to an industry which costs the state at least €3.7 billion annually.
Most jarringly of all, the same Minister for Justice who is bringing forward the Sale of Alcohol Bill, led the development of a key government strategy to reduce domestic, sexual and gender-based violence which, while very worthy in many areas, avoided even the mention of the word alcohol, despite the significant evidence of the role of alcohol in exacerbating such abuse.
Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction
Such policy incoherence could be addressed by the establishment of a state sponsored Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction which would drive policy development and co-ordinate government action in this area. This is a key focus for AAI in our advocacy work.
As we approach a general election within the next year, more than ever, we will be striving for this proposal to be part of any future government’s core programme. Without it, Ireland’s hard-won reputation as a leader in alcohol policy will be lost.
Written by Dr Sheila Gilheany, CEO, Alcohol Action Ireland.
All IAS Blogposts are published with the permission of the author. The views expressed are solely the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute of Alcohol Studies.
Other resources:
More on the Sale of Alcohol Bill campaign at Sale of Alcohol Bill – Alcohol Action Ireland (alcoholireland.ie)
Our podcast series Alcohol Uncovered, latest episode – Alcohol Availability Amplifies Abuse. Featuring Dr. Frank Houghton of Technological University of Shannon, Limerick and Michala Kowalski, a PhD candidate at the Social Policy Research Centre studying the night-time alcohol policy ecosystem in New South Wales, Australia.