BRILLIANT IDEA –
Nov. 28, 2025 – Signed into Irish law in 2023, products with the new labels – which state drinking causes liver disease and is linked to fatal cancers – are already on sale in pubs and supermarkets across the country. Since 2020 supermarkets and corner shops across the country have had to erect physical barriers between sections selling alcoholic drinks and general products, while some bottles and cans of alcohol now carry among the strongest warning labels anywhere in the world.
But in a move condemned by public health advocates, the Irish government has delayed their compulsory introduction until 2028, blaming uncertainty with world trade – which some believe is the result of lobbying by the drinks industry.
For its part, the industry body, Drinks Ireland, said it did look to the Irish government to give some “breathing space” on health warning labels and that it believes they should be agreed on an EU-wide level.
