leo varadker, pub closing times

joe sod

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leo varadker has been talking about reforming ireland's licensing laws to allow pubs and nightclubs to stay open later at night. I think this is all good thinking but why is he only talking about this now at christmas time and with an election close by? Is it typical populist chatter to try and get the young urban vote on side. Afterall he has been there 3 years and only now he talks about this, he has had plenty of time to reform irelands arcane licensing laws.
He merely talks about josepha madigan going to do another "review" of irelands licensing laws, therefore nothing will happen again.
Also is there not the more pressing issue of reforming irelands legal system and compo culture, this is causing the closure of more pubs and nightclubs around dublin than anything else.
 
It's just throwing shapes. That was probably Varadkar speaking in his unofficial capacity as trendy Leo, rather than An Taoiseach.

The same government also wants to bring in minimum unit pricing. It's not about populism. It's about how many FG TDs have their fingers in the greasy tills of pubs.
 
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I dont think minimum pricing would affect pubs - its aimed at slabs of cheap lager etc.
Longer opening hours would be a good thing, pub drinking is probably less open to harm than home drinking - social aspect, someone sober about, no kids around (late) etc., and the price might moderate quantity and pace.
At the other side I think off licence should be limited to separate shops with severe advertising restrictions- take drink out of garages and supermarkets - a bit like not advertising tobacco. Anyone who want to buy it can do, but it shouldn't be thrown at them morning noon and night. Make it easier to not drink/not think about drink.
 
I dont think minimum pricing would affect pubs - its aimed at slabs of cheap lager etc.

Publicans are in favour of minimum pricing. They think it will positively affect them. Which is one of the reasons FG like it. The whole thing stinks.

And the proposition that "pub drinking is probably less open to harm than home drinking" seems very dubious to me if you consider drink driving and well,
how many people are drunk and disorderly coming home from their own houses?

I've been to other EU cities where the drink was either just in general much cheaper than here (eg France) or more expensive to drink out but cheaper to drink in (Copenhagen). They don't have any worse problems with drink than we do and Copenhagen certainly feels a lot safer than Dublin city centre late at night.
The price of drink has nothing to do with it.
 
The pubs dont seem to be crying out for later closing times, the healy raes are not running with this as they know that no more alcohol will be consumed it will just be spread out over longer periods. Its really only an issue in the cities and is making Dublin unattractive when attracting the high tech executives as they rate nightlife as a factor. Therefore places like Lisbon aswell as having the weather also have the nightlife that Dublin lacks. Therefore Lisbon is now gaining more of this high tech capital. Obviously Leo Varadker has picked this up from these executives
 
how many people are drunk and disorderly coming home from their own houses?
/QUOTE]

Maybe its just my perception but the drunken stabbings end of the market seems to centre around "house parties" - its probably more to do with drugs than drink as such, but I guess at least in some pubs the use of drugs is a bit more curtailed.

Anyway, unless you are intent on getting out of your mind on absolute muck, I don't think there's a need to worry about minumum unit pricing.
 
Maybe its just my perception but the drunken stabbings end of the market seems to centre around "house parties" - its probably more to do with drugs than drink as such, but I guess at least in some pubs the use of drugs is a bit more curtailed.
Anyway, unless you are intent on getting out of your mind on absolute muck, I don't think there's a need to worry about minumum unit pricing.

I don't see any evidence for that perception. House party disputes are usually about noise, they don't need less drink just less amps!
The Guards abdicate responsibility for house parties and complaints from neighbouts - unlike in other jurisdictions.
The incidents occur when neighbours have to take the law into their own hands.

In a small pub where the owner knows the clientele maybe things are curtailed, in a packed superpub in Temple Bar with hundreds of people in it I don't think there's any real monitoring of how drunk the punters are.

I don't think these lads were drinking at home...

You can get drinkable wine in a French supermarket for 3-4 euros. Under MUP it will be at least double that here.
We already have the highest drink prices in the EU, if there was any basis to alcohol pricing and socieral effects we should have the least problems with alcohol.
No societal benefits will be generated by this. The beneficiaries will be those that sell alcohol.
 
I think it says alot about irish politics ,the fact that leo varadker would openly muse about pub closing times over christmas. You would never see boris johnson or macron doing this. It would be an inconsequential topic that even if they did think changes were needed would simply bring forward legislation and just change those laws. You would think leo varadker was just a bystander rather than leader.
 
You can get drinkable wine in a French supermarket for 3-4 euros. Under MUP it will be at least double that here.
We already have the highest drink prices in the EU, if there was any basis to alcohol pricing and socieral effects we should have the least problems with alcohol.
No societal benefits will be generated by this. The beneficiaries will be those that sell alcohol.
Sure what it costs in a French supermarket is not relevant, the same bottle costs more over here (understandably) - I'd rarely buy anything for less than €8. I came across this when googling https://alcoholireland.ie/minimum-pricing-campaign/the-facts/

Scotland brought it in, maybe see what's the verdict there (similar attitude to drink I'd say) - http://www.healthscotland.scot/heal...f-evaluation-of-mup/why-we-are-evaluating-mup
 
I think Leo is a bit of a show pony and expect to see his own turn on him after the election.
 
Sure what it costs in a French supermarket is not relevant, the same bottle costs more over here (understandably) - I'd rarely buy anything for less than €8. I came across this when googling https://alcoholireland.ie/minimum-pricing-campaign/the-facts/

Scotland brought it in, maybe see what's the verdict there (similar attitude to drink I'd say) - http://www.healthscotland.scot/heal...f-evaluation-of-mup/why-we-are-evaluating-mup

Irish whiskey costs less in France and in Latvia than it does in Ireland. There's no reason for wine being several euros more expensive in Ireland than in France except the minimum €4.50 the government already lobs onto it in excise and VAT. The transport cost for bulk shipment is not the main factor in the price differences- as Jameson proves beyond any doubt.
LIDL and ALDI have wines for €6 that are perfectly drinkable; Tesco & Dunnes the same when they run their buy 6 bottles promos.

We already have the most expensive alcohol prices in the EU. There is absolutely no basis for MUP except to boost the profits of those that sell alcohol.
The Scottish experience is not comparable either as their prices were lower than ours, their proposed rate for MUP is lower and they can easily avail of English prices.
 
Varadkar wants longer opening times.
Harris wants to stop people using their Tesco loyalty points to buy alcohol.
Both are bluffers
 
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