Ms Paula Leonard:

Really briefly, a number of people have grown up around the pub being Ireland's cultural offering and it is really important we look at expanding our nighttime offerings and spaces to families, namely, stuff that is not dependent on alcohol, such as theatre. These are also really important spaces currently for people in recovery. We are reducing the number of spaces in Ireland that are alcohol-free and there is a risk associated with that. On the UNESCO status for the Irish pub that came up earlier, and Senator Ward mentioned the two pubs in a village, we need to think really seriously about the extinguishment requirement because what this is going to do is liberalise the number of alcohol outlets one can have in a small village. There will not be this UNESCO standard Irish pub, the large alcohol chains will move into towns and villages across Ireland and the smaller pubs will be out of that trade because they may, due to staffing shortages etc, choose to close instead of remaining open all the permitted hours. It might be a move from having two of these UNESCO-standard Irish pubs in a village to having none and having a Wetherspoons down on the corner that will stay open. We really need to think about what the objectives of this Bill were, which were to consolidate and make sense of a rambling expansive complex area of law and to give us something that people could understand so that people in communities would find it easier to object, as they knew what the grounds were, and that an Garda could use it in an easier way. In terms of the licensed trade, it is really important that there be mandatory training for people. There has never been a successful legal case - and the Senator will know this from acting in the legal system - taken for sales to intoxicate a person in this country. We have something that exists in the legislation but has never been successfully tried in a litigation environment. We think it is really important that training and protections are provided for people who are working in the trade, particularly if the hours are going to be expanded.