Alcohol to be kept separate from other items in shops

Alcohol will be kept away from regular items in shops from today.

The new retail measures come after a two-year transition period.

Under the new law, mixed trade retailers like shops and supermarkets must keep drinks products in a storage unit behind the counter at just one point-of-sale area.

Booze can also only be displayed and advertised using either a specific area of the shop separated by a physical barrier or in units where products are displayed at above 1.5 metres.

Eunan McKinney from Alcohol Action has welcomed the move:

"This measure, along with a measure which was adopted last year, which essentially forbid alcohol from being advertised near schools and on public transport.

"These collective items would essentially create a whole new environment whereby children would not be exposed to alcohol.

Niamh Shortt is a Professor of Health Geographies at the University of Edinburgh.

She says measures like this do make a difference:

"Such visual queues of alcohol simply make it a lot more acceptable and increases social norms.

"So we're selling alcohol, a known harmful substance to health, alongside other everyday commodities such as bread and milk." 

Eunan McKinney, says they 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."

In Ireland, more than 200-thousand children live with parents who misuse alcohol every day.