Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If there are restrictions associated with anti-social behaviour that mandate that facilities must close at a certain time, is it possible for local authorities to enforce that because enforcement is often the problem at local authority level? I was a member of a local authority for just short of eight years. Enforcing the decisions of the planning authority was often a major problem, never mind the wishes of the members. Do all local authorities feel as empowered as others? Perhaps they do not exercise their authority in that way. I cannot speak for every other local authority but my experience of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council was that they approach this issue differently. I accept the existence of the right referred to by Mr. Ryan. The difficulty is that if a fast food outlet is located right next to a community school, as is the case in my constituency, it will open for breakfast and will be open throughout the day. As part of the cure and prevention approach to which I referred, can we use a statutory instrument or regulation to order such facilities not to open between noon and 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. or whatever time the local school has its lunch hour?