TOPIC:

Just read an interesting article in the Irish Times (sorry no link, but pg.13) that Lenihan is thinking of banning below cost selling of alcohol in the new year.

The jist of it is that it's a social issue and the usual line that drinking at home is unregulated is trotted out.

Someone more cynical than myself might suggest that maybe the publican's lobby might've been having a quiet word? Especially since the recent reports have indicated that for the first time there's been more drinking at home than in the pubs.

What are the opinions, if any? Is it a necessary measure or should they keep regulation out of it?

This has the publicans' lobby fingerprints all over it. If anyone was going to get an exception to the repeal of the Groceries Order, it was them. Though it's perhaps surprising it has taken this long.

I can't imagine any decent beers are being sold at below cost, so really I couldn't give a monkeys about it. And it won't make a lick of difference to the rate of at-home drinking whether your Bud costs €1.50 a can, or €2.10.

I have to agree with TBN here.

If you drink to get pissed, you are going to do that regardless of how much it costs and personally I couldn't care less how much a slab of Bud costs in Tesco, London Pride is still €2.49 a bottle.

The people I heard whining about this was the offies, not the pubs, though. Having to pay normal offie prices in the supermarkets is not going to drive people back to the pubs.

My views on the affect of Price rises on drinking patterns are detailed here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.beoir.org/index.php?option=com_conte...;id=79&Itemid=36">www.beoir.org/index.php?option=c ... &Itemid=36

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:9552lcrc wrote: I have to agree with TBN here.[/quote:9552lcrc]

Me too

To be honest, the quotes look they could have come from any LVA talking head. The publican's lobby is all over this, at a wager of 10 to a penny, I'll take any money that they've put their time, effort and money behind this "social initiative".

My thoughts on this would be that possibly it might be a boon to craft brews as they would be able to compete more effectively on price, and before anyone says it, not everyone will shun the €1 can of Bud in favour of the €3 bottle of craft brew. (Or indeed have the means.) But they might be willing to stretch the cash that extra bit if a Bud is priced at €2 a can.

That said, my personal politics and philosophy on the subject of government interference in the drinks industry (or anything) has been often stated and I'm not for changing now. I was in favour of getting rid of the Groceries Order at the time as it was one of the factors behind the "Rip-off Republic" phenomenon.

I'd say it's been government meddling that has been the cause of more problem in this area than anything else.

Didn't someone post an article recently where Eurobeers cited below cost selling of booze in the supermarkets as one of the factors behind their collapse? I'm not sure if it was one of the main reasons but it may have had an effect.