Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I agree with Deputy Gregory that if event organisers, particularly those who organise high profit events, were obliged to pay their fair share of the extra security and policing costs the event creates, there would be more resources and it would be easier for local district officers to assign gardaí to deal with the problems to which the Deputy refers. For instance, we all see people on occasion drinking outside pubs throughout the city. Although it is technically illegal in nearly every case, it is something one might think the gardaí in many cases correctly decide is not worth taking names and address for, but they should warn the publicans that they are breaching the law by allowing drink to be served on the street outside the premises. Urinating in public places is one of the offences for which I hope to bring in a fixed penalty notice system because gardaí should not have to go to the District Court three months later to try to identify the lamp-post against which the urination in question took place.

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