Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Monday, 7 April 2025
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, notes with dismay and concern recent comments by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe that Ireland’s hard-won world leading health information labelling of alcohol products needs to be “examined again”, and calls on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to defend public health over vested interests by explicitly ruling this out.
From an economics perspective linking global trading concerns brought on by Trump’s tariffs to the Irish health issue of labelling makes no sense given labelling applies only to alcohol products sold in Ireland and has absolutely no impact on exports. However, it comes as IBEC, the business lobbying organisation, is continuing its campaign against these regulation by pressing government to postpone the introduction of alcohol health information labelling due to come into effect in May 2026 using concerns about the impact of tariffs on alcohol exports to the US.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “This call must be viewed as part of a long-running industry campaign against these modest regulations which aim to ensure consumers are provided with facts about some of the risks of alcohol including that alcohol causes liver disease and the link between alcohol and fatal cancers.
“Previous efforts by the immensely profitable global alcohol industry have included claims from IBEC’s lobbying arm, Drinks Ireland, that the warning language is ‘disproportionate and inaccurate,’ and primarily geared toward ‘scaring people’ despite the evidence that even 1-2 drinks per day carries increased cancer risk with around 1,000 alcohol related cancers diagnosed annually in Ireland and that liver disease rates have steadily increased over the past 20 years. Such claims by industry indicate that their real fear is that the public will be properly informed about cancer and other health risks. They are also a carbon copy of the actions of the tobacco industry in relation to health warning labelling measures.
“Another industry tactic has been to claim that the regulations will place an undue burden on exporters, though in fact the legal onus is on retailers of alcohol in Ireland to ensure products are appropriately labelled which can be done by merely placing a sticker on the product and the industry has had years to prepare for these regulations.”
The legislation for these warning labels was passed in 2018 after extensive debate and with support from right across the political spectrum, matched by ongoing strong public support of over 70% for the measure. Multiple organisations through the Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland, including the Irish Cancer Society and Irish Heart campaigned for these measures. Ireland’s progress in this area is being closely watched internationally with other countries such as Norway also moving to introduce cancer warning labelling.
At EU level, Ireland’s regulations have been accepted as a proportionate response to the issues in Ireland and have been defended by the Commission at discussions within the World Trade Organization. It is of note that the number of countries making comments on Ireland’s regulations has been steadily dropping from 12 in June 2023 to 6 in March 2024.
Dr Gilheany continued: “In addition to the significant health reasons for these labels and the widespread support for them, there is also the issue of the impact of alcohol on the health service and the wider state. Alcohol kills 1,500 people every year and costs the health service around 11% of its budget. The wider cost to the state including impacts on criminal justice and the loss of workplace productivity has been estimated by the World Health Organisation as at least 2.5% of GDP – €12 billion annually. Against this, alcohol excise duties only raise a tenth of this amount, €1.2 billion annually. Reducing this burden must be an economic imperative for the government particularly given the current economic uncertainty.
“With all of this in mind, it is essential that the public is provided with facts about alcohol as opposed to the spin from an immensely profitable, global industry which leaves individuals, families and the state to pick up the tab for the damage its products cause. Ireland has been here before with smoking. Micheál Martin saw through the tobacco industry’s spin then and AAI calls on the Taoiseach to do likewise now and defend the public’s right to know over vested interests by explicitly ruling out any examination of alcohol labelling regulations. Why should the price of Trumps’s tariffs be Irish lives?”
ENDS
