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Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Minister of State Róisín Shortall were today critical of the Centra "Children's Allowance Specials" promotion which included alcohol at discount prices.

Minister Shatter said:

It suggests that some retailers are more concerned with boosting their turnover and profits than selling alcohol responsibly.  I am disappointed that some licensees appear to be unaware of their responsibilities in this regard.  I am also shocked at the suggestion that allowances paid by the State for the benefit of children should be targeted in such a cynical manner by the retailers concerned.

Minister Shortall said:

It is deeply disturbing that a retailer would promote alcohol in this way. Alcohol causes almost 90 deaths every month, is responsible for a quarter of injuries presenting to our emergency departments and is a trigger in one third of domestic abuse cases.

We need to tackle our patterns of alcohol consumption and the harms that alcohol is responsible for. Alcohol marketing and promotions are clearly part of this and the Centra promotion illustrates the weakness of a voluntary code in this area. My Department is developing an Action Plan on Alcohol based on the recommendations of the Substance Misuse Strategy and will be brought to Government in the coming weeks. We cannot tolerate similar alcohol promotions in the future.