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"bigears":2h2yzgtf wrote: To be fair you will struggle to find a country (at least outside of Scandinavia) that imposes duty anywhere near as hefty as Ireland. I'm not justifying €6 for a Budvar, but prices in Ireland will always be higher than most of the continent while ridiculous levels of duty exist.[/quote:2h2yzgtf]

In fairness that's only half the story, the cost price for the offies and the pubs is the same and includes the duty.

The other reason that the pubs have a pricing policy that is excessive is that they have a closed shop when it comes to competition. Unlike on the continent, you can't just simply acquire a suitable premises and stock, apply for a license and undercut the guy down the street who's extorting his customers. The publicans have a cartel written into legislation for them, and this has created a massive and completely artificial barrier to entry for anyone who might see a market in offering value to the customers. It's another reason that there is no diversity in the products offered by the pubs and they all offer the same old beer in every establishment.

"bigears":34uiq9p5 wrote: Absolutely, it was no surprise when the proposed 'cafe bar' licences never got off the ground.[/quote:34uiq9p5]

The one and only time i agreed with thE ex TD michael mcdowell

"sbillings":303soifb wrote: But it's all for our own good lads. If we didn't have high alcohol prices and artificially restricted numbers of outlets we would be buying more alcohol per capita than the rest of Europe and binge drinking with it. Oh wait..[/quote:303soifb]

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