92. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Finance his views on the fact that the current excise duty for an off-licence makes no distinction between off-licences that have a small volume of sales and those that sell large quantities of alcohol such as supermarkets; his plans to introduce a graduated fee structure based on sales. [28200/11]

Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan): Historically, flat rates of duty applied to the various licences for the sale of alcohol. That position was changed, however, by the Finance Act 1992, which introduced a new system of duty related to turnover for spirit retailers’ on-licences (that is, pub licences). The duty for off-licences is still charged on a flat rate basis. The rates of duty for pub licences have not been increased since 1992, but the rates for off-licences have been increased during that period. Most recently, the Finance (No. 2) Act 2008 set the rate of duty for retailers’ off-licences at €500.