Minimum unit pricing, as provided for in section 11 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, aims to reduce alcohol consumption by setting a floor price beneath which alcohol cannot legally be sold.

The 2018 Act sets out a minimum price per gram of 10c, though allows the minister to increase the minimum price through secondary legislation.

Similar legislation was brought into effect in Scotland in 2018 following a protracted legal battle between the Scottish Government and the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), which came to an end when the UK Supreme Court ruled minimum pricing did not breach EU law.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 legislates for alcohol from a public health perspective. The Act is designed to reduce alcohol consumption, to reduce the harms caused by the misuse of alcohol and to delay the initiation of alcohol consumption by children and young people.

“Ireland had the third highest level of adolescent binge drinking in the world according to data from a global study published in The Lancet in March 2019, while 2018 saw an 80 per cent increase in the number of children under-16 admitted to Irish hospitals because of alcohol intoxication. 36 children in 2018 compared to 20 such cases in 2017.

“Addressing the availability of cheap strong alcohol products will reduce the disease and death caused by the harmful use of alcohol and will ensure that cheap strong alcohol is not available to children and young people at ‘pocket money’ prices.”

Frank Feighan, minister of state with responsibility for public health, well being and the national drugs strategy, said: “Minimum unit pricing is a targeted measure that will help those that need our help the most.

“We know from our modelling and from the evidence from Scotland that minimum unit pricing impacts the most on high risk harmful drinkers. If we can remove cheap strong alcohol from our stores, we can reduce the burden of disease and we can put strong alcohol out of the price range of our children and young people.”