James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about extending licensing hours and extending them across a variety of activities. However, we appear to be coupling these two things and I am not sure if this is in the legislation or the model or whether it is practice. We seem to be saying that to have a late hours theatre or late hours cinema or dance hall it must be inextricably linked to the provision of alcohol. I would question that. Surely we can go to the cinema, late or early, without necessarily having to have alcohol. Can we dance without it? I would like to think so. Is that in the legislation? As it stands at the moment is it that the legislation has sent us down that particular route or is it more of a cultural practice that we have a concept as a society that we must have alcohol in order to enjoy these activities? I wonder is there anything to stop a venue opening late, for a theatre performance, for example, by not serving alcohol. That might provide some context to the discussions.