Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Public health is a key consideration for me and my Department in developing this legislation. The intention of this Bill is to try to modernise our existing licensing laws to bring them in line with the expectations and needs of today and a modern society, to bring us into line with other jurisdictions, and to encourage the development of a modern and diverse night-time economy. This legislation is an important commitment in our programme for Government.

What I am trying to do is to strike the right balance. I think there is a perception that this Bill will suddenly see nightclubs and bars in every town and village open until 6 a.m., with alcohol being served. This is absolutely not the case. The intention of this proposed legislation is to have a yearly licence for such businesses that operate, for example, late licences and must regularly go to the courts to say they are having special events, when in reality these are late bars that operate every night they are open, to streamline the process to make it more cost efficient and to allow certain nightclubs that have to adhere to very strict criteria to open a little bit later. This is because we do not have this type of offering for people now.

At the same time, the general scheme of this Bill will retain the approach we have always had, which is that we have a restrictive regime for licensing. There would be powers, in particular, for the Garda to address situations where people do not adhere to the guidelines, especially for the licences for later opening hours, where it is necessary to have CCTV and appropriate square footage for dancing. The whole point of this legislation is that we can have acts, music and entertainment. The conditions in this regard must be adhered to, as must the rules around the selling of alcohol.

As part of the development of this Bill, I held consultations in November 2021. We had more than 5,000 responses, including responses from Alcohol Action Ireland, the Ballymun Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Force, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, the Health Service Executive alcohol programme, the Institute of Public Health, the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network and the National Suicide Research Foundation. In addition, I held a webinar and panel discussion. At every stage in developing this, the views and opinions of those working in the health space have been taken on board. At the same time, this Bill is not just about making sure that people can go out and have fun and do so in a healthy way, but also that we help businesses operate in a more efficient and effective way for what is already happening now. That is very important as well.

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