Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 4, before section 4, but in Part 2, to insert the following new section:

"4.—Section 17 of the Act of 2003 is amended by—

(a) after subsection (3) the insertion of the following new subsection:

"(4) Any person other than a licensee who takes intoxicating liquor from a licensed premise for the purpose of its being sold on the account, or for the benefit of profit shall be guilty of an offence.",

(b) in subsection (4) the insertion of the words "or other person" after "licensee".".

This has been of concern to a number of people for a while. It is the "dial a can" system whereby in recent years pubs and off-licences have circulated fliers stating that one can telephone an order which a courier or somebody in the employ of the premises would deliver to one's door. The problem I have with that is that far too frequently young people use this. When the delivery person arrives and sees people aged 14, 15 or younger at the door, rather than travel all the way back to the off-licence or pub and forgo the tip or delivery fee from the publican or off-licence owner, he or she hands over the drink to the young people.

I got a commitment from the Minister that under section 17(3) of the 2003 Act it is an offence for a licensee to engage in or permit such activity. I examined it and could not find that it was that specific. In this amendment I am trying to ensure it is specific that sales of off-licence goods can happen only on the premises, that one cannot transfer one's licence to an individual who will travel in a car to a location dictated over the telephone and sell drink to whoever is there. The licence is for a particular premises; that is the purpose of my amendment. The practice has been highlighted by the Minister and his advisory group. It needs to be tightened to end this practice once and for all. There is a difference if the sale is conducted by credit card over the telephone because the money has changed hands and the driver is only making a delivery. However, where the exchange of funds is at the door, in the park or wherever the delivery has been directed, this needs to be tightened up much more. Hopefully the wording I propose would deal with that.

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