188. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Finance if his Department would consider extending the alcohol products tax relief to small artisan distilleries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33557/23]

Michael McGrath, Minister for Finance: Council Directive 92/83/EEC, also known as the “Alcohol Structures Directive”, lays down a harmonised approach for the application of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the EU. It sets out the categories of alcohol and alcoholic beverages that fall within scope of taxation and the basis on which excise duties on such products are to be established. This Directive provides that Member States may apply reduced rates of excise for small beer producers and also for small distilleries (spirit drinks producers). Ireland exercised the option to apply reduced rates of excise for small beer producers. Having regard to public health concerns, Directive 92/83/EEC set the production threshold for the application of excise relief for small distilleries at 10 hectoliters of pure alcohol per annum. Only a small number of Member States apply an excise relief for small distilleries and the commercial viability of such a scale of production was found by the European Commission to be very limited.

The Deputy should note that Council Directive 2020/1151 amends Directive 92/83/EEC and includes a new option to grant up to 50% excise relief to independent small producers of fermented beverages such as cider. The Finance Act 2022 introduced a 50% excise relief to micro producers of 'cider and perry' as defined in section 73(1) of Finance Act 2003. The scope of the relief applies specifically to cider and perry exceeding 2.8% vol. but not exceeding 8.5% vol. This relief is available on up to 8,000 hectolitres of cider and perry produced by microproducers with an annual production threshold of up to 10,000 hectolitres. On a typical pint of cider or perry, the value of the relief works out at approximately 27c per pint.

Finally, the Deputy should note that I have currently no plans to extend the alcohol products tax relief to small artisan distilleries