A man can reach his weekly limit of 17 standard alcoholic drinks for €7.65 while a woman can do it for less than a fiver, it has been claimed.

Urging the Government not to lower the level of tax and duty on drink in the Budget, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) maintains that booze is far too cheap.

In its pre-Budget submission, the organisation claims that strong and cheap drinks are the alcohol products favoured by the heaviest drinkers who generally seek to get as much alcohol as they can for as little money possible.

AAI is calling on the Government to retain the current level of excise duty and reconsider the introduction of a levy on all alcohol as well as bringing in minimum unit pricing.

“The central drivers of such high-risk consumption are price and availability and, in this context, given the scale of known alcohol related harms, it would be unwise now for our government to consider any lowering of current excise regime.”

AAI said that its recent annual price survey carried out last month shows that purchasing the cheapest alcohol available is possible for a woman to reach her weekly recommended low-risk limit of 11 standard drinks for €4.95.

It is possible for a man to reach his weekly recommended low-risk limit of 17 standard drinks for €7.65.

The organisation claims that the estimated cost to Irish society of problem alcohol use is close to €2.35 billion.

On the other hand last year’s excise receipts on alcohol amounted to €1.1 billion, a shortfall of at least €1.2billion.