AUSTRALIA’S alcopops tax is being examined as a model for an alternative source of funding when the ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport comes into effect.
Ministers are thrashing out a deal to end alcohol sponsorship.
The drink clampdown will also see a ban on below cost selling on alcohol and restrictions on alcohol advertising.
No agreement was reached at a Cabinet sub-committee meeting last week.
Ministers are divided over the need for the ban and when it would come into effect, amid concerns over the loss of funding for sports clubs and organisations.
The Government is trying to provide an alternative source of funding to the money provided by the alcohol companies.
To try to curb binge drinking, the Australian government slapped a 70pc tax increase on pre-mixed drinks – known as alcopops.
The alcopops tax is among the measures being examined, with a tax on off-licence sales also on the table.
The Government will return to the issue in the Autumn.
The ban on alcohol sponsorship will come into effect in 2020.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said no final decision had been made on alcohol sponsorship of sport.
He said: ’There has been no decision made about this yet. There is a great deal of work to be done on this. When we met at the Cabinet sub-committee recently Minister White presented a great deal of work that has been done here. So we would recognise this as a complex issue. We did not put any dates on this because there is a great deal more to be considered.”
