Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to amendment No. 2. I thank the Minister for his support for the Bill. I also thank the Members who have supported it, especially those who have tabled amendments. Many of the amendments are in the same spirt. My amendments, Deputy Clare Daly's amendments and Deputy Wallace's amendments are in the same spirit. I hope we can get the Bill through the House this week because the Seanad has committed to deal with the Bill next week. The sun is shining and if we can get the Bill enacted, craft brewers will be able to benefit from the legislation in a summer where they can grow their business. There are four craft brewers in my county. I encourage Members to adopt the amendments in that spirit.

I agree with the majority of what Deputy Wallace said. Deputy Clare Daly's amendments and mine are very similar. I drafted the Bill and worked with the Minister's staff, who I compliment and thank for their help, but it did come across from the brewers who were watching Committee Stage that it would be impractical to have to do a tour to buy off-sales. The happy medium I propose in my amendment No. 2, which is linked to amendment No. 6, is that one would have to do a tour to get on-sales. Under the Bill, the brewers are only allowed to sell what they produce. Can one imagine if one was in Spain, Italy or France and one wanted to visit a local vineyard to purchase some wine but one was not able to do it? It is insane - absolutely crazy. This is a very practical Bill which has had the unanimous support of this House politically. The amendment I propose, No. 2, which is linked to amendment No. 6, is to allow for on-sales after a tour and off-sales regardless of whether a tour is taken. It is very similar to Deputy Clare Daly's amendment.

I encourage the Minister to adopt the amendments. To be honest, in the spirit of all the rest of the amendments, I think this is the crucial amendment. I have no issue with the time of 7 p.m. I think it is a good thing. The Minister could possibly link my amendment with Deputy Clare Daly's, as I think they might work, so that we do not have to bring the Bill back from the Seanad with an amendment because we may not have the time for it this summer and I am very conscious of the need to enact the Bill this summer. I encourage the Minister to take this amendment on board, purely on a practical basis.

This is a fledgling industry. It is potentially a great industry. It is located in the four corners of Ireland, in rural areas, towns and cities. There is great culture and heritage involved. Fáilte Ireland is willing to start a marketing campaign for craft breweries as a tourism product. We see people coming into Ireland from central Europe, Germany, California and Florida looking to visit these breweries. I met some tourists even in the past two weeks and they cannot understand why they cannot buy produce. The amendment will allow the spirt of the Bill to be fully kept but it will mean that for many of the reasons Deputy Wallace has outlined, it will allow for off-sales whereby people can come in and buy a modest amount directly from the brewer without having to continuously do tours.

Breweries will not always be in the space where they can have tours, for example, if they are in mass production, which is the case at certain times of the week when they front-load production because they know they will not have visitors, for example, on Mondays and Tuesdays or early in the day. That would allow them to plan and to ensure the space will be suitable for visitors later in the day. I hope the Minister can take on board my amendment. Over the next day or so I hope that between us we can get these couple of amendments through. I do not have much of an issue with the Minister's amendment. I will support the change to 7 p.m. as long as it does not require the Bill to come back from the Seanad.

This is the critical amendment which the House must consider and I hope the Minister will support it. It is the one issue I believe needed further consideration and on which the industry reverted to me after Committee Stage. I had hoped that it would be dealt with through discussions with the Minister's officials but, unfortunately, that was not the case. There may be very valid reasons for that but I hope the House will support the amendment for the spirit in which it is being put forward and its practical nature.

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