Mr. Padraig Cribben:

The view of the drinks industry as articulated in a pledge earlier this year is that the issue that has manifested in relation to alcohol misuse arises out of the availability of cheap alcohol rather than alcohol itself. We believe the issue of cheap alcohol needs to be addressed. The Government has said it proposes to address it. It is now time to do so.

On the availability and segregation of alcohol in supermarkets, the view of the drinks industry is that this should be tackled by way of a code of practice. The other key factor which in the view of the drinks industry needs to be tackled is price-based advertising, be that in the Sunday or daily newspapers - which regularly carry full-page advertisements relating to alcohol - because alcohol is being used as a loss leader. In some places this is being portrayed as consumer-friendly, but the opposite is the case in that what actually happens is that the price of more stable products is increased to compensate for the fact that alcohol is sold as a loss leader. The multiples do not work on small margins.