Bill Manwaring, from the NI Conservatives, has described Nelson McCausland’s plan to introduce ‘alcohol only tills’ to supermarkets as “badly thought out and counterproductive”.
“Mr McCausland’s consultation proposals about the sale of alcohol in supermarkets are desperately misguided and risk treating responsible people like children”, Bill commented. “He wants to impose alcohol only check-outs and wall off sections which sell alcoholic drinks.”
“These measures promise only to inconvenience responsible people, who want to buy a bottle of wine or a few bottles of beer with their weekly shop, while doing absolutely nothing to discourage problem drinkers, who will not be put off buying alcohol by having to queue at a different till.”
“We certainly must combat the damaging effects that alcohol misuse has on society, but the answer is not ill-thought out gimmicks or treating adults like children. Nor is it providing a ‘fast lane’ for people buying alcohol at supermarkets. We should instead be looking at ways of working with supermarkets to raise awareness of problems caused by alcohol. Nelson McCausland should drop these silly proposals as quickly as possible”.