The Sunday "holy hour" will be abolished and pubs will be allowed extensions after midnight on Saturdays under the terms of a new Intoxicating Liquor Bill, published yesterday.
The Bill, which will be introduced in the Dail next week with a view to having it enacted before the summer recess, also provides for a one-off exemption next New Year's Eve, allowing pubs to remain open until 8.30 a.m. on January 1st.
Publishing the document, the Minister for Justice said the measures were being expedited to benefit this year's high tourist season. Mr O'Donoghue added that he would make a separate announcement later in the year about "wider issues" concerning the licensing laws.
But the Vintners' Federation of Ireland expressed "bitter disappointment" that the proposed legislation did not include a general extension to 12.30 a.m. closing, with half-hour drinking-up time all year round. After a meeting in Dublin yesterday, it said the Bill was mere "tinkering" with the law and fell far short of the real reform promised by the Minister.
The VFI president, Mr John Mansworth, added that it was illogical to introduce these limited measures now, while putting off consideration of wider reforms to the autumn.
The new Bill proposes to amend the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 1927, to remove the ban on the sale of drink in pubs or registered clubs between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays.
A separate ban, preventing the sale of alcohol between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays in premises with special restaurant licences, would also be scrapped; as would the prohibition on special exemptions after midnight on Saturdays.
For the millennium, the Bill provides that pubs and registered clubs can remain open from 10.30 a.m. on December 31st to 8.30 a.m. the following day.
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