Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his presentation. One of the very few legacies of Covid that could perhaps be regarded as positive is the vast improvement in the availability of outdoor dining and socialising, provided for by the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, which this motion seeks to extend. The effect of the Act was that pubs and restaurants were specifically allowed access to and use of outdoor spaces for eating and drinking. This was done by emergency legislation, effectively sidelining by-laws and local authorities to allow us all to try to get some semblance of normality without being forced indoors and the resulting exposure in confined spaces to Covid-19.

There is no doubt that this disease was having a real, devastating and unpredictable impact on people’s health prior to the arrival of the vaccines. Our condolences still go out to those who lost friends and family to Covid.

The intention behind this motion is to extend the provision in the Act. The terms of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 are clear and explicit; that it is supposed to be a temporary measure. The Title to the Act states that its purpose is to:

A. make provision, on a temporary basis, for the sale or supply of intoxicating liquor in certain circumstances in seating areas located outside licensed premises in order to allow, in the public interest and having regard to the manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of the disease known as Covid-19, the businesses of licensees of such premises to operate in a manner that mitigates the spread of that disease ...

The question is not whether we agree with the changes but whether there is still a sufficient risk from the pandemic to justify bypassing local by-laws and the democratic control of local councils and continuing with this emergency legislation in place. We have to be careful that we do not just end up using the Act as a permanent solution. However, there is still sufficient justification for us to extend the provisions of Act for six months as outlined in the motion. According to the Government's Covid-19 data hub, there were 32 deaths from Covid-19 reported last week, there was a test positivity rate of 12%, there were 316 confirmed cases in hospitals and there were 11 confirmed cases in ICUs. There is no doubt that the effects of vaccination have provided a significant protection for many. While many of us have moved on and are living lives that have mostly returned to normal, there is still sufficient prevalence of Covid-19 to justify the extension of these measures for now.

We cannot take this for granted on a permanent basis, however. While in the majority of cases there has been little controversy regarding the implementation of the Act, if we want to extend it on a more permanent basis, this should be done on a firmer statutory basis, while retaining the role of the local councillors and councils to make local adjustments. It would make more sense to extend it until the end of next August, rather than the end of May, given that the summer months are when spaces get the highest use and are of most benefit to everyone. However, the base legislation only allows for an extension of six months. By the time this extension is finished, I would hope the Government would present a mechanism whereby the changes put in place would have the chance to be approved for extension by local councils and councillors across the country who should be deciding matters in any event.

I would suggest that, as I have done in my remarks, one of the advantages of the Covid-19 readjustments to socialising was the experiment of utilising previously unused space on public pathways and so on. We have to move to a situation where, in our capital city and in towns across the country, the car being excluded from that space is continued. We need to reclaim that public space for public dining and socialising in order that families with young children and elderly relatives do not have to constantly worry about cars, vehicles and speeding traffic. Far too many of our towns and cities are choked with vehicles, and traffic management takes precedence over socialising and over that most basic need for human connection. If we can get any good out of the devastating pandemic of recent years it is that we can reimagine our civic spaces and public realm and extend these powers to the local authorities to reimagine how we interact with each other on a more permanent basis.

The Labour Party supports the motion. However, in the future, we can hopefully have a more imaginative way of doing this through the local council mechanism.

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