New updates to Ireland's alcohol regulations will see price promotions and loyalty card purchases on alcohol come to an end.
As of yesterday, supermarkets and other retailers will no longer be allowed to offer bulk price deals on alcohol and be barred from including alcoholic drinks in with other deals, such as a ready meal and bottle of wine combination.
The new regulations were welcomed by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly as "further progress toward our objective of reducing harmful drinking and the health harms of alcohol consumption in our country".
"A young person consuming the same volume of alcohol as an adult drinker is at risk of greater harm to his or her health with a particular risk to the developing adolescent brain," Donnelly said.
"One of the primary objectives of our Public Health (Alcohol) Act is to delay the initiation of alcohol consumption by children and young people. These regulations will ensure that price promotions which result in the sale of alcohol products at pocket money prices cannot continue."
"Alcohol is not like other grocery products because of its harmful health effects," said Donnelly. "These regulations mean that price promotions which apply to other groceries can no longer be used for alcohol products.
"The coming into force of these regulations is further progress toward our objective of reducing harmful drinking and the health harms of alcohol consumption in our country."
The move was also welcomed by Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), an NGO that campaigns for minimum pricing on alcohol and lobbies for stricter regulations.
The operation of these regulations now ensures that people are not further incentivised, or rewarded, for using alcohol," Eunan McKinney, Head of Communications at AAI.
"In practice, with so much alcohol now purchased in the retail landscape, these regulations will act as a small impediment to encouraging greater use and so contribute to reducing alcohol harm."
"The introduction of these regulations is part of a process to de-normalise alcohol as an ordinary grocery product."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Ireland