Alcohol consumption in Ireland is continuing a downward trend, falling just over 2% per adult last year, according to a new report.
The study, commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), found alcohol intake per adult dropped 2.1% to 9.30 litres of pure alcohol (LPA) in 2025.
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This represents a decline of more than a third from when consumption peaked in 2001 and is down from the level of 9.49 LPA in 2024.
Beer remained the most widely consumed alcoholic drink in the country last year.
It accounted for a 42.1% share of the market, even as total beer volume dipped by 2.7%, the DIGI report said.
Wine held its position as the second most popular category, with volumes rising by 4.0% and its market share reaching 29.4%.
Spirits recorded a slight increase in volume last year of 0.2%, lifting their market share to 22.4% from 22.3% a year earlier.
Cider volumes were down 0.2%, while its market share remained unchanged compared to 2024, at 6.1%.
The report also included data sourced from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on alcohol consumption in 2023, with data for later years being “very limited”, it said.
Among 17 EU countries and the UK monitored by the OECD in 2023, ten recorded higher alcohol consumption than Ireland’s average of 9.9 litres of pure alcohol for that year, while seven were lower, the report said.
Ireland’s figure was also just under the unweighted sample average of 10.0 litres of pure alcohol across the EU countries surveyed plus the UK, which the report said shows the country is no longer an “outlier” with regards to high alcohol use.
Donall O’Keefe, the secretary of DIGI and CEO of The Licensed Vintners Association, said: “Today’s report demonstrates that Irish people continue to consume alcohol at levels in line with the European average. Despite this, Irish consumers are forced to pay one of the most punitive and unjust rates of excise tax on alcohol in the European Union.
“This policy increases cost pressures on both consumers and struggling small family-owned pubs and restaurants, during a prolonged period of economic turbulence. High excise rates also reduce our competitiveness in tourism and hospitality compared to our EU counterparts.
“We would urge policymakers to also acknowledge the importance of pubs to the social fabric and wellbeing of local communities, particularly in rural areas where social isolation is an increasingly common reality.
“These are small businesses that have faced a decade of deep financial uncertainty, with Brexit, Covid, transatlantic trade disruption and geopolitical tensions combined with sharp increases in Govt-imposed costs, all compounding to drive rapidly rising cost pressures. We must help rather than hinder small business.”
The DIGI is lobbying for a 10% cut to alcohol excise duty in Budget 2027, “in order to reduce cost pressures on small hospitality businesses around the country”, O’Keefe said.
