Ms Paula Leonard:

One of the things we included in our submission was mandatory training for people working in the licensed trade.

That would ameliorate the health and safety issues that were outlined for people who work in the trade and who face the associated risks. A number of families in the State have taken cases against the owners of licensed premises in circumstances in which their loved one, whether a father, mother, brother or whoever, died as a result of excessive alcohol consumption on one of those premises. The licenceholders in those cases were not successfully prosecuted. However, the principle of non-sale to intoxicated persons is one of the founding stones of alcohol licensing legislation across the globe. We recommend that, independent of the alcohol industry, taking account of the fact that adherence to the principle of responsible server and responsible trader of alcohol is applied by the industry in this country, that this principle should be applied on a mandatory basis by an independent body and that such provision should include, for example, how to manage people who are experiencing intoxication on a premises. We agree with the point about the stigmatising nature of the language of "drunken person", but there definitely is an opportunity to include provision in this regard in the legislation.