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

I thank Dr. Reynolds. My last question also comes under the miscellaneous category and is one that struck me during the course of our engagement. We had testimony from several speakers on the impact of excessive drinking on people's working life and day-to-day activities the next day. I remember a previous occasion on which the licensing laws were changed, 20 years ago or more, in respect of the 11 p.m. closing time on Sunday nights, with 11.30 p.m. being the closing time on other nights and a special exemption allowed for Thursdays. There was a lot of tinkering around on the times at one stage and the matter was later revisited. As I recall, there were apparently submissions from the Department of Labour at the time - possibly with the support of the unions, although I am not certain about that - asking that late opening not be allowed on Sunday. Fridays and Saturdays were considered fine but closing time on Sunday was specifically kept back to either 10.30 p.m. or 11 p.m. The reasoning behind that apparently was a concern, which may have been borne out in the trial period, about productivity and attendance issues on Monday mornings. That might sound a bit clichéd but there seemed to be some evidence behind it. Are there any views among the witnesses on that? Is it a factor that should be considered, possibly not just on Monday mornings but across the seven days of the week, given modern work practices? One of the representatives from Mandate might be well placed to respond on this point.