'Exceptionally' cheap alcohol is continuing to drive excessive drinking across Ireland, campaigners say.
Alcohol Action Ireland’s latest pricing survey looked at the price of alcohol in convenience stores, neighbourhood shops and supermarkets right across the country.
It found that the price of a 'standard drink' (i.e 10 grams of alcohol) starts from as little as 46c for beer to 68c for gin or whiskey.
It means a woman would need to spend just €4.95 to drink their weekly low-risk limit of alcohol (11 standard drinks), while a man would need to spend just €7.65 (17 standard drinks).
Overall, consumers purchasing alcohol have six times the spending power in shops than they do in pubs or restaurants.
Eunan McKinney, Alcohol Action Ireland’s head of communications and advocacy, told Newstalk Breakfast this is a survey they do every year.
He said: "What it shows is, yet again, the exceptional affordability continues to drive that excessive alcohol use across the population."
He said this pricing model is used nationwide, from the smallest villages to the largest cities.
Alcohol Action says there are people dying annually in Ireland as a result of excess alcohol consumption.
However, a big change to Ireland's approach to alcohol is coming in January, when minimum unit alcohol pricing is introduced.
The minimum price will be set at 10 cent per gram - meaning cheap beer, wine, vodka and other drinks will become more expensive.
Mr McKinney says his group is "quite pleased" with the new approach, as it will see "cheap, strong" alcohol being removed from the market.
He said that and other measures being introduced over the coming years will “shift a generation” into a different relationship to alcohol.
