Health minister Simon Harris will bring a memorandum to the Cabinet ahead of the summer recess, setting out plans to bring in bans on below-price selling of alcohol by the middle of 2020.

The new rules would remove strong low-priced alcohol from the shelves and reduce consumption levels, especially amongst drinkers at risk and young people.

A 75cl bottle of white wine costing €5.99 will rise by €1.11 while 70cl of Tesco vodka, which currently costs €12.99, will increase in cost by €7.72, bringing it to €20.71. A can of Dutch Gold beer, costing €1.13 will rise by 45c.

The move comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said last week that the Government plans to move quickly to implement the system.

He was speaking after it emerged that sales of alcohol in Scotland had dropped to their lowest levels since records began following the introduction of a similar system there last year.

Its introduction in Scotland was challenged by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) who ultimately appealed to the UK Supreme Court over its legality under European law.

SWA’s appeal was unanimously dismissed by justices in the court who found its enabling legislation did not breach EU law and that it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim – addressing the health and social consequences arising from the consumption of cheap alcohol.

“Scotland brought in the legislation first and it does seem to be working, consumption is falling, and we’ll press ahead with implementing our public health alcohol legislation,” Mr Varadkar said.

The Public Health (Alcohol) Act was enacted last year but a number of parts remain to be formally implemented.

The Government anticipates opposition from retailers over minimum unit pricing but it is understood that Mr Harris believes the 12-month lead-in period will give the industry enough time to prepare for the price changes.

He previously said “price matters” – adding that “if it goes up, harm goes down”.

“We hear that Irish people drink moderately, but the 2017 Healthy Ireland Survey found that nearly four out of 10 of us binge drink regularly,” he said.

“The more we drink, the higher our risk of developing life-changing illnesses such as alcoholic liver diseases or alcohol-related cancers. We can no longer ignore the evidence or the risks.”