Make industry pay for costs of alcohol harm
Alcohol harms in Ireland cost the state at least 10 times more than the contribution of alcohol to the Irish Exchequer in excise duties. In fact, the cost to the state per standard drink is €3.63 based on current estimates from the WHO of alcohol harm costs in health care, justice system and loss of workplace productivity. There is an opportunity here to link taxes and levies on alcohol to reducing alcohol harms.
The World Health Organisation, OECD, International Monetary Fund and World Bank agree that controls on alcohol pricing are the most effective measures in reducing alcohol consumption and its associated harms.
There is clear evidence of the success of pricing policies from countries like Lithuania which have implemented such controls and have seen significant improvements in the health of their citizens. In some jurisdictions such as New Zealand there are levies on the alcohol industry which are ring-fenced to provide services to address the harms from alcohol. Ireland is introducing a similar levy system in relation to gambling.
For alcohol tax and excise policies to maintain their public health value, they must be regularly increased in line with inflation. A good example is Australia, which automatically increases alcohol taxation twice annually in line with the consumer price index.
Ireland has Minimum Unit Pricing and a system of excise duties on alcohol. However, there is no automatic uprating mechanism or linkages between the scale of the harm caused and the price paid for alcohol. We will seek to have such systems put in place.
There are also significant anomalies with the Irish State holding investments of the order of €42million in the alcohol industry. This is in sharp contrast with other health harming industries such as tobacco, fossil fuels and the arms industry where the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund has excluded such investments.
Likewise, there are major concerns in relation to the provision of grants and significant tax breaks such as on alcohol advertising. It is anomalous that the state is providing economic support to an industry which costs Ireland €12 billion annually. There is much to learn from other jurisdictions such as Norway which is divesting itself from both alcohol and gambling industry investments.
