Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's comments are unfortunate. In essence, there is a certain rewriting of history. The Minister seems to have skipped over the entirety of the Committee Stage debate, when we added to the discussion on Second Stage and fine-tuned the Bill. There was agreement across all parties that we should advance in a modest way to elevate the tourism aspect since many craft beer drinkers like the tourism experience. My amendment would still require them to take the tour if they wanted to consume or taste a beverage on site. It would only remove the tour in the case of off-sales. I will not repeat our discussion on Committee Stage when we debated the matter at length and the overwhelming majority of members agreed. Busloads of people will not travel from Dublin to a craft brewery in County Tipperary or the like to stock up on drink. We are talking about local people who want to drop in, sample a local creation and bring home a few beers to drink.

On the idea that it would constitute unfair trading conditions, the premises would only be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. I hope it will be 7 p.m., but that is a debate for later. Most people will be at work during these hours. The idea that someone dropping in to buy a bottle or two of beer on his or her way home from work to drink it in his or her sitting room will lead to anti-social behaviour and marauding gangs of drunks stampeding across the countryside is ludicrous.

We are at the end of term. Despite having discussed the matter at length on Committee Stage, the Minister seems to have written out the middle part of the debate. Tourism and craft breweries are protected. The amendment would merely facilitate the person who wants to drop in to buy a six-pack or whatever else after work by not requiring him or her to go through the charade of taking a tour.

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