Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the recent price war on alcohol over recent months; if there was consideration given to excluding alcohol products from the ban on below cost selling of grocery goods; and his views on whether the widespread availability of cheap alcohol will encourage further alcohol abuse. [2720/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of alcohol and below cost selling was dealt with in my Department's November 2005 Report on the Groceries Order. The Groceries Order was not designed to tackle the issue of alcohol abuse and there is no evidence to suggest that it was capable of doing so. The Department's Report concluded that the Order was a highly inappropriate and disproportionate mechanism by which to seek to control alcohol consumption.

The question of alcohol abuse is an important issue but one which must be addressed within its correct context. It raises broad issues of societal behaviour. However, the type of measure imposed by the Groceries Order is not, and never was, an effective, appropriate or proportionate means of promoting responsible consumption of alcohol. It did not address the issue of below cost selling at all — its benchmark was the invoice price. It did not prevent suppliers from funding cheaper alcohol; it only imposed this restriction on retailers. Neither did it prevent discounters from selling cheap alcohol. Indeed, "price war" prices are probably higher than the prices charged by the discounters for cheaper alcohol products — the point being that low prices are available to those consumers who require them.

I fully support the policy objective of promoting responsible consumption of alcohol and tackling the issue of alcohol abuse. If any policy grounds for limiting price competition on alcohol exist, they exist in the context of health, cultural or law and order policies. A case for regulating price based alcohol promotions should be made to the relevant Minister or Department who would then need to find a statutory power to achieve this objective.