EDITORIAL: Hiding alcohol behind gates is like hiding sweets from children

Does anyone else still find it strange that the government decided that we needed to hide alcohol behind gates in shops in order to prevent the population from binge drinking.

The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 is what brought about these strange measures, that are not really seen in any other European country.

This public health initiative tried to ensure that alcohol products and their advertisements were separated from other goods by a physical barrier with a minimum height of 1.2 meters, ensuring they are not visible to the public.

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It is a bit like hiding sweets from a child if you think about it. Maybe these extreme measures were warranted, after all we do have high rates of alcoholism in this country.

It is worrying though, that the government needed to put in such stringent measures, assuming the average Irish adult cannot make informed decisions when faced with an alcoholic beverage on a shelf in the shop.

The obvious aim of these measures is to minimise alcohol consumption here in Ireland, as high rates of incidents in A&E are usually alcohol related, I’ve been told from a close friend who is a nurse.

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Minimising this pressure on the health system would then free up nurses' already thinly stretched time, if there were less alcohol related illness and accidents in the country.

I would love to get down to the main reason why we of all European countries can’t be trusted when it comes to alcohol purchases, but I’m sure it’s not just one reason, but instead many cultural and historical factors at play.

It would be great to see studies done on whether this out of sight out of mind trick really works in this scenario, however I really am sceptical whether it makes a huge difference to one's shopping habits.