Opinions of European Union member states on Scottish government plans for minimum alcohol pricing have been released to BBC Scotland.

Position of Ireland on Notification 2012/0394/UK on the draft Alcohol (minimum price per unit) (Scotland) Order
Conclusion

Ireland expresses its support for the policy agenda being pursued in the above notification; and in this context, is currently engaged in preparing proposals to develop a policy of minimum pricing in Ireland.

Context

In February 2012, a National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group published a report on the issue of alcohol; it is a roadmap for the future direction of policy to deal with the use and misuse of alcohol.

Harms

The report elaborated on the enormous harm that the misuse of alcohol is doing to Irish society. Among the key findings of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group on the harmful effects of alcohol were that alcohol:

• Was responsible for at least 88 deaths every month in 2008 (source the National Drug-Related Deaths Index); 1 in 4 deaths in young men were estimated to be due to alcohol, which compares to 1 in 12 deaths due to cancer or 1 in 25 due to cardiovascular disease;

• is a contributory factor in half of all suicides and in deliberate self-harm; it also increases the risk of more than 60 medical conditions - such as cancers;

• is associated with 2,000 beds being occupied every night in Irish acute hospitals; a quarter of injuries presenting to emergency departments and 7,866 admissions in 2010 to specialised addiction treatment centres;

• is associated with harms to the baby because of mothers drinking during pregnancy and is a factor in unplanned pregnancies;

• increases the risk of children needing special care, with an estimation that adult alcohol problems are associated with 16% of child abuse cases;

• was a trigger in a third of domestic abuse cases in 2005;

• related illness cost the healthcare system €1.2 billion and alcohol-related crime cost an estimated €1.19 billion, both in 2007; the cost of lost economic output due to alcohol was estimated to be €527m in 2007 and finally, alcohol related road accidents cost an estimated €530m in 2007.

The Steering Group reported that 1.5 million Irish drinkers drink in a harmful pattern.

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