Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Minister should not open his mouth too soon. I will not suggest that he will turn the country into a nation of winos. Alcohol is a very serious issue and the people who spoke up at the commission against this proposal should be listened to. The members of the commission considered that the acquisition of a full off-licence for any premises involved a change of use of which the public should be made aware and should be entitled to object to at the planning stage. This recommendation was not acceptable to Ms Carmel Foley, the Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Isolde Goggin of the Competition Authority and Mr. Brian Whitney representing the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the grounds that any genuine planning issues are already covered by existing planning and licensing laws and this provision presents an unnecessary and unwarranted barrier to entry to the business.

Ms Ailish Forde, RGDATA, considered the scrutiny of the courts to be sufficient and the involvement of planning authorities inappropriate. On the other hand, some of the members were of the view that a planning permission requirement should also apply to new wine-only licences. These members were Messrs. Frank Fell, Licensed Vintners Association, Michael Murphy, IBEC, Tadgh O'Sullivan, Vintners Federation of Ireland, and John Power, Irish Hotels Federation.

On one side people are trying to vindicate consumer rights and competition and on the other there are people with an interest in the business. The Minister has clearly taken one side——

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