By Joleen Murphy
As pubs remained closed for a large portion of 2020, the consumption of beer and cider has reduced.
Instead, the amount of wine being consumed increased by around 12 per cent, according to new figures.
This data from the Revenue shows 103 million litres of wine was consumed in 2020, compared to 92 million the previous year.
Overall, the total consumption of alcohol is down, brought on by 17 and 11 percent decreases in beer and cider respectively.
Alcohol excise receipts show the amount received by the Revenue for wine was 22 million euro in March, which jumped to 32 million in April as people were asked to stay at home.
Spirits saw the biggest jump between those two months, going from 21.8m in March to 36.9m in April.
Eunan McKinney from Alcohol Action Ireland says they're disappointed there wasn't a lower consumption.
"We have continued to drink largely at the same level we have over 2020 and we have to remember in that context for 39 weeks of last year all of the licensed premises were closed.
Overall, consumption last year was down by about 3 million litres compared to 2019.
