Leo Varadkar has committed to tackling Ireland’s “co-dependant” relationship with drinking by passing the Alcohol Bill before the end of the year.
Prohibition was not a solution, the taoiseach said, but he wanted people to understand that alcohol was not a normal grocery item, “like pizza or fruit”.
The bill will bring in minimum drink pricing, tougher restrictions on advertising, and separation structures known as booze curtains in off-licences and shops. Minimum pricing has been criticised as disproportionately affecting those on lower incomes.
Mr Varadkar said that there had been delays in bringing forward the bill, which he published as health minister in 2015, because consideration had to be given to concerns raised.
“Like all drugs, alcohol causes people to do things and behave in a way that they never would if they were sober, and we need to face up to that as a society,” he said. “Almost everyone in Ireland acknowledges that we drink too much as individuals, and as a country it is the most abused drug.”
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Mr Varadkar said that “denormalising” alcohol was the solution. “We need to make sure that alcohol is not treated as a normal grocery item, something that you buy in a shop as if it was like buying fruit or buying a pizza — it is a drug. Prohibition won’t work, but we need to make it less normal,” he said.
The alcohol bill would ban advertising near schools, playgrounds, and public transport, as well as bring in a 9pm broadcast watershed.
The drinks industry has said that the bill is not evidence-based and would have consequences for the economy.
A spokeswoman for the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI), said: “The drinks industry in Ireland abides by some of Europe’s strictest codes for advertising and marketing, negotiated with the Department of Health to ensure responsible promotion of its products, and alcohol consumption is declining.
“The industry supports over 200,000 jobs, a wage bill of €4 million, and is a hugely important sector.”
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It is estimated that the costs of treating people with alcohol problems in hospital is €1.5 billion a year, approximately 10 per cent of the annual health budget. The figures exclude the cost of emergency care, GP fees, psychiatric care and alcohol treatment services.