Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

Extension of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021: Motion

 

2:17 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak briefly on this motion. I think it is necessary. I thank the Library and Research Service for providing us with the digest of the legislation. One loses track of the Bills and the lead-in to them. I thank those who work in the service. They work - and I take every opportunity to say it - under extraordinary pressure to produce digests to educate us Deputies. In this particular case, the production of the digest was a relatively easier exercise than for a lot of the legislation that has come before us. I welcome it. The motion seeks to give temporary licensing of outdoor seating where alcohol is sold and to allow the private areas that are being used for the sale and consumption of alcohol to be regulated. I welcome that.

The reason I wanted to speak today was to talk about the balancing of rights. It is very important to give certainty that was not there previously to the Garda and, indeed, to the publicans in relation to the law. That is very important. It led to a situation in 2020 and 2021 which was very unhelpful and left the Garda in a terrible position. I welcome the legislation and the certainty with it. However, I do not know if the balance of rights has been given enough consideration by local authorities. The memory fades a bit as the distance grows, but back in 2002 in Galway City Council, we fought a very difficult battle to make the Barcelona Declaration part of the actions in Galway city. The Barcelona Declaration came from the mid-1990s. One of the aspects we were zoning in on was universal access for all citizens and residents in Galway. We wanted to get away from the labelling of disability and use universal access. We adopted that Barcelona Declaration and committed to ongoing monitoring of the implementation of it in every way, from dished footpaths to all the other necessary adjustments, to make Galway city universally accessible.

That went out the window in the very difficult situation to which Covid-19 brought us. Then, the help for businesses was very welcome but the practical solution of extending the outdoor seating areas was done without proper consideration, debate and analysis at city and county council level on how that was impacting on our obligations under the universal declaration. I will not use all of my time. I wanted to raise and highlight that issue, however.

I would like to see what sort of monitoring and hands-on approach will be in place. I know the local authorities are independent as I have spent much of my time there. At some stage, however, there has to be oversight and management and a feedback mechanism from the local authorities on whether they are complying with their obligations and commitments under the Barcelona Declaration. If they are not, let us hear why they are not complying with it and see what needs to be done. I would like to know what feedback the Minister of State has received from any city manager. I am speaking particularly about Galway city because I am very familiar with it and the obligations.

The second issue is the balancing of residents' rights who live near these outdoor seating areas. That has never been properly debated either. I would imagine that every Deputy in the Dáil has received numerous representations from residents who have been kept up half the night and who have made telephone calls that have gone unanswered. The monitoring of the balancing of rights and the feedback mechanism from the local authorities to the Department is extremely important.

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