Vol. 406 No. 2
59 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider reviewing the price of soft drinks, and particularly those of non-alcoholic lagers, in view of the fact that soft drink profits of 58 per cent are totally out of line with alcoholic drink profits of 40-45 per cent charged by publicans; his views on whether it is a disincentive for our young people; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As the Deputy will be aware, centralised price control generally has ceased. I do not have official information on the matters raised but in the absence of that it is still clear that profit margins on non-alcoholic drinks are very high in public houses, It would appear that the profit margin is often much higher than that quoted by the Deputy. I regret that fact that this is a disincentive to young people to consume non-alcoholic drinks. I wish that publicans would begin to compete with one another in supplying soft drinks at reasonable profit margins.
