The Government is expected to ban the daytime broadcasting of TV adverts for alcohol under new legislation aimed at controlling alcohol advertising and sponsorship.
Health warnings on beer and spirits, similar to those used on tobacco products, may also become mandatory once the legislation is enacted.
The link between alcohol advertising and sports events is also expected to be severed. However, discussions are ongoing as to when this is to happen.
The legislation will provide for the enactment of many recommendations issued by the Government-appointed Strategic Task Force on Alcohol earlier this year.
The Cabinet has already approved the introduction of an alcohol products Bill, and it is expected to be published next year.
The Minister of State with responsibility for health promotion, Mr Sean Power, said that a daytime alcohol advertising ban would be implemented. However he did not say at what time in the evening that the ban would be lifted.
Health campaigners say there should be a 9 p.m. watershed for alcohol advertising.
"The area is unregulated and haphazard at the moment. Some drinks companies say they avoid advertising alcohol during the day.
"Binge drinking among young people is a big problem, and this is one way of helping to address the issue," Mr Power said.
On the subject of health warnings, he said international research had shown warning labels increased awareness of the potential risks of alcohol use in certain circumstances, for example, pregnancy, driving a car or operating machinery.
He said the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol companies would be banned, but did not say when this was likely to occur.
"Guinness sponsoring the All-Ireland has come in for a certain amount of criticism.
"The drinks industry and the GAA have been closely associated for a long time. I've been a member of a rural club, and recognise the great difficulty of raising funds and so on," he said.
"However, it's inevitable that there will be a ban.
"It's not in the interest of sport that the drinks industry should continue to sponsor sports to the extent that it does. The only issue is the timing of the ban."
The GAA and the health promotion unit in the Department of Health, meanwhile, are planning a campaign against binge drinking in the new year.
