Minister of State Roisin Shortall has confirmed that the government is preparing to introduce new alcohol control measures to reduce the amount of alcohol people in Ireland are consuming.
“Overall we need to reduce the amount of alcohol that we drink”, she told Newstalk Breakfast this morning.
The cheap and easy availability of alcohol “happened in recent years” and is a serious factor in facilitating harmful alcohol consumption, she said. “We’re working to introduce a minimum price for alcohol – a floor below which you cannot sell alcohol.”
The junior minister said that problems with alcohol need to be tackled on different fronts at the same time through education, labelling with health warnings, alcohol abuse treatment, and alcohol prices and availability.
Source: thejournal.ie, 23/07/2012