Sir, – The president of the Royal College of Physicians (September 16th) claims that introducing a €1 minimum price for a unit of alcohol would reduce alcohol consumption by 8.8 per cent, deaths by 197 and hospital admissions by 5,878. This is an extreme example of what Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek termed the "pretence of knowledge".
If the proposed Dáil Bill included the provision that should these terribly specific figures fail to be reached then the minimum unit price would be revoked, I would be its number one supporter, but the sceptic in me says that this will never happen. – Yours, etc,
JED B VAN DE POLL,
Howth,
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Co Dublin.