Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

During the period leading up to the enactment of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2008, bodies representing the mixed-trading sector proposed the implementation of a code of practice as an alternative to section 9 of the Act, which makes statutory provision for structural separation. The then Minister agreed to postpone the implementation of the statutory provision in favour of an agreed code of practice, subject to compliance with stated conditions. In particular, it was made clear that deferring the implementation of the statutory provision was conditional on independent verification of compliance with the code and that the code was achieving the objective of structural separation.

The Deputy will know that clearly has not worked. It was not enforced in any way. The current difficulty, which is not insurmountable, is that there are now two very clear departmental perspectives. As the Deputy will know, Minister of State Deputy Róisín Shortall has a very clear view and pathway in regard to how we should deal with the alcohol issue. I admit that I agree with this entirely, as do many. The Department of Justice and Equality has an opinion on the issue also, although it is not so much a separate one. It is a question of bringing the two perspectives together. There may be a way of doing something in the shorter term through the implementation of section 9. I will relate this to the Minister because it may represent a way of putting a short-term solution in place. If we needed any convincing, the events of the past few months should tell us that we need to do something about the sale of alcohol and consider who it is sold to and its effects.

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