Increase in alcohol consumption has more to with disposable income than the licensing hours changes, says the Minister for Justice.
Garda videos of drunks coming out of pubs may be used to close down licensed premises under legislation that could become law before July, the Minister for Justice said yesterday. Speaking at a press conference outlining his proposals, Mr McDowell said he hoped "the time will come when An Garda Síochána will come with hand-held videos and if people are tottering out of pubs drunk and if the licensee appears to be the person responsible for that, in those circumstances they will face closure of their premises".
The new Bill contained "practical steps to bring home to everyone in the licensed trade and others that under-age drinking and disorderly conduct is a serious matter". In addition, it would give gardaí "real, practical powers" to prevent such activity and would create a disincentive to allowing the law to be breached".
He said this Bill was only part of the reforms he wanted to make to the licensing laws. Another Bill, changing the rules under which liquor licences are granted and allowing for a new category of small café type bars, would be published in the middle of next year.
However in this Bill, Mr McDowell said: "I want to bring home to licensees in particular that premises will be closed if they serve people who are drunk."
He said that if there was cross-party support for the measures in the Dáil and Seanad, he hoped they could be enacted before the Dáil went on its summer break in early July.
The Bill makes it an offence to serve alcohol to people who are drunk and increases the onus on publicans to ensure nobody under-age is served alcohol, and that there is no disorderly conduct on their premises.
Under-18s are to be barred from pubs after 8 p.m., Thursday pub closing is to come back from 12 30 a.m. to 11 30 p.m. and plainclothes gardaí can covertly monitor compliance with the law.
In relation to the barring of under-18s from pubs after 8 p.m., he said the current law was "almost inoperable". Underage people could sit in a pub all night with friends who were over 18, with little fear of being detected should they drink alcohol that had been sold to their companions, he said.
Asked how to implement the provision making it illegal to serve someone who was drunk, he said he could not in law define what it was to be drunk. "I have to rely on the common sense of the judiciary and the fact that every case has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt."
Some publicans might be under pressure "simply to maximise turnover and turn a blind eye to the consequences in terms of public order. What I am saying is if you are in the business of maximising your turnover, let's remember this. If you serve people to the point where they were drunk and that is detected, you will face closure and there will be a very large hole put in your pocket for that kind of behaviour."
He also disputed the view that the extension in pub opening hours, introduced two years ago, was responsible for the significant increase in alcohol consumption. "Within two years, people have suddenly decided that the increase in alcohol consumption was a related to the licensing hours issue. That isn't true. The rate of increase over the last six or seven years was manifest, and I think it has more to with disposable income rather than the licensing hours changes that were imposed in the year 2000."
Some people in a knee-jerk reaction called for a return to the old licensing hours. He did not accept this and was, with this legislation, merely going along with the recommendation of the Liquor Licensing Commission on Thursday closing time.