The Department of Health estimates that increasing the cost of the cheapest bottle of wine will mean high-risk drinkers (22 per cent of the Irish population) consume up to 70 fewer bottles per year.
Having commissioned Dr John Holmes of the Alcohol Research Group in the University of Sheffield to predict the outcome of the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol, the Department of Health is expected to set the price of the cheapest bottle at €9.
The research suggested increasing the price would result in a 8.8% fall in overall consumption and 5,900 fewer hospital admissions and 1,500 less criminal offences in the first year.
Retailers will benefit from a boost of around €70m if the plan to price alcohol at €1 per unit comes into effect.
