New rules will be introduced today on the sale of alcohol in supermarkets, which will see products cordoned off.
The new law, introduced under Section 22 of the Public Health Alcohol Act, 2018, will see mixed sale shops being forced to create a barrier or enclosure so alcohol is kept away from the rest of the store.
The legislation is aimed at reducing the attractiveness of alcohol to children and young people.
Under the new law, which will be monitored by the HSE Environmental Health Officers, mixed trade retailers can store alcohol products in a storage unit behind the counter at only one point of sale area.
Alcohol can only be displayed and advertised using one of the following three options:
• A separate area of the shop separated by a physical barrier which has a minimum height of not less than 1.2 metres and through which alcohol and advertisements for alcohol are not visible.
• Enclosed adjacent storage units on the shop floor in which the products are not visible up to a minimum height of 1.5 metres.
• A maximum of three adjacent units, each of 1-metre width and 2.2 metres high.
The requirements of Section 22 for mixed trade retailers do not apply to stand-alone off-licences, airports or passenger aircraft.
These measures come after a two-year transition period had been extended to retailers to comply.
Commenting on these developments, Eunan McKinney, Head of Communications and Advocacy at Alcohol Action Ireland, said: "We are delighted that this day has finally arrived. These measures provide us all with a new opportunity to end the normalisation of alcohol throughout society; alcohol is not an ordinary product and should never be seen as such.
"Bringing these measures into law has been a very long, and by times, difficult challenge. The significance of placing alcohol controls on a statutory basis, ending a somewhat cavalier self-regulatory approach, is highly important.
In a statement on Twitter, Alcohol Action Ireland said "these in-store separation measures provide a new opportunity to end the normalisation of alcohol throughout society; alcohol is not an ordinary product and should never be seen as such. "
All supermarkets must from today abide by the new measures when selling alcohol.
