Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I recognise that this is not a straightforward area. He referred to the public health Acts dating to 1890. When combined with the Licensing Acts, which I think date to 1833, that highlights that we are dealing with an archaic system of licensing laws and also for having music events while at the same time having some alcoholic beverage available to people listening to the music. We need to consider other approaches. I will take on board what the Minister said about perhaps making a submission. We need to recognise that some people want to organise music events and do not want the predominant aspect to be everyone coming in for a drink and listening to music as a secondary matter. Some people want to organise music events predominantly but also want to be able to sell alcohol at those events. It works fine in circumstances where there is a big concert in, for example, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, where people are able to spend a lot of money to get a licence to sell alcohol for a particular occasion. When one is a smaller music provider, it does not work that well. I have met people from Give Us The Night. I think the Minister previously displayed an interest in providing some form of new licensing mechanism for people who want to predominantly put forward music so that people can listen to it without having to go through the vast expense of paying for a one-off licence.

See this speech in context