Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an dTeachta Sherlock as ucht a chuid ama a roinnt liom. According to the figures released by the Central Statistics Office in March, over the past five years public order incidents have increased by almost 60% and in parallel with this the Health Research Board has pointed to a 21% rise in the number of new alcohol treatment cases. Alcohol abuse is a major contributing factor to anti-social behaviour, assaults, incidents of criminal damage, domestic violence and is often involved in murder.

The intended focus of the Bill was to be on public order but the consequences of alcohol misuse are many and are not fully addressed by it. Hopefully, we will see other Bills which address the other aspects of alcohol misuse in Ireland today. The other consequences of this misuse include the cost to individual health and to the health care system as a whole, as well as the costs of crime and to the economy in general in terms of absence from work.

While this Bill is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, there is an urgent need to adopt a public health approach to reducing the harm caused by alcohol. The total number of alcohol-related hospital discharges in this State rose by 92% between 1995 and 2004. Many of these admissions included episodes of alcohol poisoning, liver cirrhosis, suicide or chronic disease, and bore a direct link to the increased levels of alcohol consumption. The majority of cases involved people under the age of 40.

While welcoming the Bill in general terms on behalf of Sinn Féin, I would like to put on record our disappointment at the unjustifiable failure of the Government to act on most of the 100 recommendations made by the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol which reported in 2004. This is the modus operandi of a Government which has long-fingered action by commissioning report after report and then failing to implement or enforce the expert recommendations in those reports. In the meantime, the availability of alcohol has continued to increase at a pace never seen before.

Last year, the total number of off-licences issued in the 26 counties was 4,261, some 320 more than the previous year. That is almost one additional premises selling alcohol per day. This sharp increase in the number of licensed premises in the State makes policing the sale of alcohol near impossible.

I reiterate the comments made by two consultant psychiatrists to the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs recently. They argued that without a mechanism to ensure enforcement, the Bill will have little impact. Outside of publishing this small piece of positive legislation, what does the Government intend to do to ensure the existing legislation and provisions contained within it are enforced?

For example, I was assured by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in reply to a parliamentary question earlier this year that the facility known as dial-a-can, which allows young people in particular to obtain alcohol by ordering on-line or over the telephone without having to enter a licensed premises, is already prohibited. If this is the case, why are so many businesses freely advertising this facility to dial-a-drink, with payment on delivery? Why are these businesses not being prosecuted? I remain unconvinced that the issue is adequately addressed in existing legislation. It is impossible for the Garda to police the sale of alcohol where the sale occurs at a multiplicity of private residences. Garda action alone will not stop this practice and section 17(3) of the 2003 Act should be tightened up and extended to expressly stipulate that it is also an offence for persons other than the licensee to engage in such activity.

I will now turn to some of the sections of the Bill before us. Section 4 reduces the hours of off-licence sales and this is to be welcomed. Section 6 extends the grounds on which the District Court may refuse to grant new off-licences. This will include the grounds pertaining to the existing number of off-licences and other shops selling alcohol in the area and will also allow local residents to object. Again, this is welcome, but we could have done it a few years ago and thereby addressed the huge rise in the number of off-licences — almost one a day last year, as I said earlier. The Government's delays have allowed for a grossly excessive number of off-licences to come into being to the detriment and often against the wishes of local communities.

With regard to late night opening, section 9 aims to make the special exemption orders which permit extended opening hours contingent on CCTV in the venue and on compliance with fire safety standards and so on.

In addition, the powers of the gardaí to object to special exemption orders on public order grounds are to be strengthened, which is positive progress. However, we may still have a situation where a significant number of venues in one area close at the same time, which means the public order flash points outside venues, at taxi ranks and fast food outlets will continue to be problematic. What Sinn Féin proposed in its submission to the alcohol advisory group would be more effective in addressing alcohol related public disorder in entertainment zones and town centres. International evidence suggests that staggered closing times, combined with additional measures to mitigate against crawl drinking helps to prevent dangerous late night fracas. This Bill will not address the problem of drinkers spilling out onto the streets at the same time unless we amend it on Committee Stage.

Sinn Féin is in favour of the liberalisation of our licensing laws in line with European models, involving flexible opening and closing times to prevent drink-related disorder. We also promote the involvement of local authorities and local communities in the liquor licensing control process. To this end, local licensing fora should be introduced and should include elected representatives, statutory authorities, licensed trade representatives, community representatives and other stakeholders, such as those involved in addiction services. These licensing fora could operate as part of the existing or forthcoming council structures such as the joint policing committees and play a key role in the process of dealing with or deciding on the number and type of outlets where alcohol can be sold, the number of licences granted and the hours and days of sale. In addition, the local licensing fora could also consider complementary issues in the interests of community safety and quality of life, such as the number of taxi ranks, necessary street lighting and the hours of sale of fast food outlets in their area.

I welcome this Bill and hope we will be able to add to it on Committee Stage to improve it and enable it to address some of the issues that I and other Members have raised. I also hope that other legislation and provisions required to address alcohol related incidents in our hospitals will be forthcoming.

See this speech in context