Professor Frank Murray:

The point the Deputy is making about the need for policing to be related to alcohol sales is absolutely pertinent. This should be an underlying principle for the drafting of this legislation. When we hear about the pubs struggling to stay open, a contributory factor to that, as was mentioned by Dr. Gilheany earlier, is that we have had a dramatic increase in the number of off-licences. That number has increased almost threefold over the last 20 years or so. It is not going to be a big surprise that people are going to drink more at home in response to those licences to the off-trade increasing so dramatically. If we want to support the pubs, we need to look at reducing the availability of alcohol in the off-trade.

The average consumption of alcohol per person in Ireland is about 10.8 l per capita. What does that look like for an average drinker? An average drinker drinks the following in the following four categories: 223 pints of beer; 35 pints of cider----