Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The motion before the House seeks to extend certain provisions of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021, for an additional six months, to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol in relevant outdoor seating places. Members will recall the hiatus last year when there was total confusion about the legal situations, with local authorities wondering whether they were the licensing authority and with the Garda contacting the Minister directly enquiring as to what was happening. There was a particular difficulty in Galway about which, I have no doubt, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle was contacted directly.

We have clarified the law on the matter. I do not have a difficulty with, nor do I believe the House will have such difficulty, in endorsing a six-month extension of the provisions that worked admirably well last year. It is demonstrably a good idea. It is the norm in continental Europe. While we often talk about our weather in Ireland, I can assure Members it is no worse than the weather in Brussels. There is no reason it cannot work to great effect, thereby turning places like Galway city or Wexford into wonderful spaces for outdoor dining and for people to mingle. This will greatly enhance not only our tourist product but the look of our towns as well as rural areas.

Obviously, it must happen within proper controls, which are set out, and be licensed by the local authority. There is an onus on the publican to maintain good order. People cannot bring their own booze. It is not to be a gathering point for drinkers. The general powers available to An Garda Síochána to maintain public order, including hours of operation and so on, will apply to these outdoor spaces in the same fashion as they apply to indoor licensed premises, as the Minister of State reaffirmed. All of that is good and I support it.

I agree with the Minister of State about the impact of Covid on the licensed trade. It has been horrendous. Many licensed premises simply will not recover and will not open again. That has been compounded by the cost-of-living pressures on business. This is an issue to which the House will have to return.

I support what has been done, and my only question is to ask why a permanent solution to this is not provided now. The Minister of State alluded to that by saying there is ongoing major reform and consolidation of the licensing Acts. As he knows, I have been around a while.

That will not happen. It will not be enacted in the lifetime of this Dáil. There are 5,000 submissions. Few things are more contentious than the licensing laws. The Minister of State has now given leave to draft not even legislation but the heads of a Bill, which will then go for scrutiny and public hearings. There is no prospect in the short term of it being enacted. We will be back here in six months or earlier to extend this. We should do it. The Minister of State should have come in and done it today. It is logical the Government should have used the last 12 months to get particular things done. We can consolidate them all ultimately, but let us do what is right now.

There are other things we can do. One of the things that struck me during the pandemic was that older people were advised to go shopping early in the morning. They were being facilitated in the supermarkets to go shopping early in the morning, but they could not buy alcohol. It was like a debar in reverse. They were too old to be allowed to buy alcohol. There are ridiculous anomalies, including the notion that people going to a luncheon cannot buy alcohol before 12.30 p.m. on a Sunday. These are the issues that need to be addressed. If we are a long way away from sorting it out in a consolidated way, which I honestly believe we are, let us deal with as many of the most egregious aspects of the anomalies as we can as we move along. I would have hoped this particular provision would have been long term rather than for six months.

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