TOPIC:

I like the idea of out of town night spots to take the strain off the city centre, but I don't think the mandated staggered closing times approach is necessary. If you let all of the businesses set their own hours then the market will naturally stagger closing times as demand requires.

The more I look into this sort of thing, the more I come to believe that any interference with the natural ebb and flow of the free market, beyond the most basic legal protections for consumers and businesses, causes more problems than it solves.

Did anyone catch Prime Time last night? They were debating this subject (along with a proposed "fat tax" on cream buns, to curb obesity, and other such Nanny state proposals).
There was a guy, whose name I didn't catch, who spoke well against such proposals. Basically saying we are one of the most expensive countrys for the price of a pint in Europe, and adding another euro onto it will not solve the binge drinking problems, but will only hurt the silent majority who are responsible drinkers. His view, which I agree with is that it's a cultural thing, and that's what we need to focus on changing. Fintan O'Toole, who was debating the opposite seemed to suggest that there is evidence that price hikes will curb this anti-social behaviour, without much citation to back it up.

Perhaps it's available to view on the RTÉ website.

That's the problem. It sounds reasonable; common sense even, but it doesn't actually work.

Raise the price of alcohol by a small increment and people complain a bit and pay the extra. Raise the price by a large increment, people will cut out the odd mid week pint or the bottle of wine shared and consumed with dinner, over a couple of days, in favour of one or two sessions at the weekend.

Eventually, people get used to the new price and the mid week drinks begin to creep back in, but the weekend binge is a habit now and continues in addition to the mid week drink. The shocking rise in alcohol consumption is pointed out, people say something must be done “as a matter of urgency” so another price rise is called for.

Cycle through this process for a few generations and you end up with the modern Irish binge drinking culture.

Price rises attack responsible drinking habits and lead to binge drinking. That is my view, but I have no idea how to tell people.

Needs real player:

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&amp;quot;Poc&amp;quot;:13l6zz4m wrote: Needs real player:

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Had some problem opening that

here is a direct link to one of the clip's

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&amp;quot;noby&amp;quot;:c336282u wrote: Did anyone catch Prime Time last night? ..........
There was a guy, whose name I didn't catch, who spoke well against such proposals........
.[/quote:c336282u]

richard waghorne is his name....
i used to know him in passing as a kid. fairly surprised to see him on tv! he did speak well though. Fintan just seemed like a tool to be honest and didnt seem to want to grasp what richard was saying. ive seen fintan speak on this topic before ..and other such topics . it seems like he would want the government to clamp down on fairly much all personal freedoms.