Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I appreciate the Minister is discussing other forms of control with colleagues, such as the licensing side of things. There is a planning dimension to the matter. Planning control is appropriate for some elements, whether they be location, the change of a normal retail shop to one of these uses, opening hours or whatever. I acknowledge that the Minister acted on off-licences and I compliment him on having done so. I urge him to act in the same way on this issue. There may well be a need for a more comprehensive regulatory regime down the line, which may be worked out in time.

In the short term, the loophole facilitating the lack of planning control, with a local authority having no power over these outlets, needs to be closed. The issue should be brought under planning control and a requirement for planning permission should be included in these cases.

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