The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is a progressive piece of legislation designed to significantly and positively alter Ireland’s harmful relationship with alcohol. It will ensure that alcohol misuse is treated as a serious public health problem.

The legislation is part of a wider range of reasonable and pragmatic measures under the strategic framework of Healthy Ireland, which aims to improve the nation’s health and wellbeing. It will seek to reduce our per capita consumption from 11.46 litres in 2016 to 9.1 litres for every person over 15 and over, by 2020.

By reducing our alcohol consumption, we will reduce alcohol harm across our communities; by targeting the protection of children and young people, we can ensure a healthier outcome for future generations.

Recently, a report from DKM Economic Consultants, commissioned by the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland – a representative organisation for alcohol drinks manufactures and suppliers – queried the impact of the proposed legislation, and highlighted the concerns of the alcohol industry.

The following observations outline our strong belief that these measures, taken together, will provide a practical, pragmatic means to achieving a reduction in alcohol consumption so reducing alcohol harms and the related socio-economic impact.

An overview of the Economic and social impact of alcohol consumption and related harms in Ireland:

• The annual cost of alcohol related illness and harm costs the Irish exchequer €1.5bn, that is over 3% of all public current expenditure;
• €2.35bn assessing a wider set of cost implications to other aspects of impact to current public expenditure in Justice, Children, Social Protection.
• The cost of excessive alcohol consumption is a major drain on current public expenditure: Health, Justice, Social Protection; it is estimated that for €100m of public monies spent, €4.6m will be deployed to mitigate the harmful outcomes of alcohol consumption.
• Over 12% of the health current expenditure budget is spend on alcohol related illnesses.
• Every day, 1,500 beds in our hospitals are occupied by patients with alcohol related problems.
• 283,866 work days were lost to alcohol related absenteeism in 2016 at an immediate cost to the domestic economy of €45.2m
• Every day 3 people will die from alcohol related illnesses.
• Each year 60,000 children will unnecessarily begin their, all too early, lifelong drinking careers.
• The life of one in every eleven children are being negatively impacted by parental drinking.
• Alcohol is a factor in half of all suicides in Ireland.

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