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Lodge a complaint to Brussels re Guinness price hike
 national |
consumer issues |
news report
 Thursday May 27, 2004 15:46 by Eoin Dubsky info at votedubsky dot com 087 6941060, 055 25176
I today lodged a formal complaint with the Irish Competition Authority and the EU Directorate General for Competition regarding excessive pricing, following Diageo's announcement to increase the price of Guinness. The multinational drinks company announced yesterday that they would increase the wholesale price of Guinness in Ireland by 6c as of next Tuesday, 1 June 2004. I would encourage people to write, email and phone the authorities, who are supposed to protect consumers from such behaviour by large corporations. On 1 April Diageo dropped the wholesale price of Guinness for the Czech Republic, where they face stiff competition from local brands, and imports Heineken and Murphy's Irish Stout. They also announced in April that they will close the Park Royal Brewery in London, laying off 200 workers. You would expect that this would result in cost savings, which could be passed on to the consumer. There is no excuse for this price hike.
The EU has passed sound consumer protection and competition law, which should benefit everyone in the EU. Irish competition legislation obviously isn't working though, if large corporations can abuse their market position like this. Diageo were fined $2m for breaking competition laws in Venezuela recently. They shouldn't be allowed run roughshod over consumer rights here.
For all the talk about 'rip-off Ireland' from the big political parties and other Euro candidates, there has been precious little done to tackle multinational corporations like Diageo and Microsoft, who have been found in breach of competition laws all over the world. The corporate media have been covering the Guinness price hike story as if it were something uncontrollable or inevitable. In a way it is inevitable, I'd agree, because anyone with the sort of market dominance which Diageo enjoys, and the access to political power which they exercise, is going to rip off consumers. If you visit my website (address below) you can see the complaint which I sent, and contact details for you to make your own complaint if you like.
The other day I was at a talk by Richard Stallman in Trinity College about software patents. It's the same thing over and over: the government just parrot whatever they're told by this multinational corporation or the other. They in turn control markets and tax citizens, just as Mussolini had envisioned it: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." – Benito Mussolini (cited by Lewis Lapham in Harper's, January 2002).
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Comments (11 of 11)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11however its also worth noting that more than 50% of the price of a pint is made up of tax and excise duty. complain to the government as well about this.
The International Herald Tribune reported that Diageo have described the Irish drinks market as its "most challenging market" (http://www.iht.com/articles/521940.html). I am not an economist, but it puzzles me that they feel so very challenged in Ireland where they have such a dominant market share (some 45% of the trade according to that article), and yet they are increasing the wholesale price of their flagship product. Surely if it was challenging (as it is in, say, the Czech Republic) you would expect them to drop their prices to remain competitive?
I don't know how much the cost of producing one pint of Guinness is, but 6c is surely not an insignificant portion. Government tax on booze is a different matter. When Guinness 'tax' you their profits go directly back to their shareholders.
"When Guinness 'tax' you their profits go directly back to their shareholders."
but the same could be said of any product you have to buy. the 50% + tax is unjust and should be cut.
What kind of an e-jit are ye Eoin? Dont reduce yourself to such low-life electioneering stunts.. stand up for real issues, and dont insult your own and other peoples intelligence...
What worries me is the price of food and rent. If you dont like the price of a pint, go and brew your own beer, or bring your cans into the pub with you and pour them under the table.
The State wants to see us intoxicated on beer instead of the buzz of insurrection... who gives a shit how much a multinational puts its price up on a poison, we have other things to worry about...
with that initiative you must now breed (if you're the type) and be blessd :-)
and then marry a third worlder and work your ID.
Breed, marry a third worlder (for 10 grand) then you'll eat and you can work on your EGO.
The price of a pint in this country is an absolute joke. i paid stg£1.70 for a pint in a fairly classy bar up north yet the same pint costs €4.20 in a dublin bar on a saturday night.Most of it is taxation. this system of high taxes is really screwing the paye workers. To the wealthy it doesnt matter because this increase in stealth taxation means that they wont have to increase taxes for the rich or abolish the generous tax exemptions for race horse owners.
im buying the governments crap in saying that they are increasing the price of a pint because of health concerns. so they pretend to be concerned about peoples health yet they abondon their promise to end hospital waiting lists and to deliver 200,000 medical cards
It is an interesting recognition of the bodies such as the Irish Competition Authority and the EU Directorate General for Competition. Im sure Eoin is on top of many other issues and this is one momentarily topical issue. It's nice to know he doesn't have a narrow or singular policy objective.
Hi,
We have developed an index showing the price of the pint relative to the average weekly manufacturing wage back to 1969. Click on the link below.
You can also download the short story from the home page: The Spirit of Tailgunner Joe-A patron saint for the Irish abuse of power tribunals- and enjoy a read over a pint!
Michael
That fecker O'Nolan misquoted me, I never said "A pint of plain is yer only man..". What I said was, "A mint of plain is yer only bank".