Results 18,521-18,540 of 18,738 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to the Senator for raising this matter. Her position is consistent with that adopted by her party at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, when Deputy Deasy outlined the same general approach. This is not a question of my rowing back on anything; it is a question of my accepting the recommendations of the Liquor Licensing Commission. In...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: It is not the 11.30 p.m. to 12.30 p.m. regime that is the real problem. I have to provide for a Garda force, rostered by the Commissioner, which has to combat very significant numbers of intoxicated people on our streets between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. This problem is a consequence of the special exemption order and the entertainment during drinking regime. It arises close to the changeover of...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: As Senator Terry posed some questions, I would not like to be accused of concealing the facts. In respect of intoxication in a public place, in 2000 there were 14,687 convictions and in 2001, 17,805; in respect of disorderly conduct in a public place, in 2000 there were 2,341 convictions and in 2001, 2,924; in respect of threatening abuse or insulting behaviour, in 2000 there were 14,251 and...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Senator Terry has tabled a related amendment which would make it mandatory to have closed circuit television cameras. I confess to the House that I had thought along similar lines to Senator Derek McDowell's amendment. I thought twice about the issue and decided I would prefer to provide for next year rather than this year for the following reasons. There is no doubt that in certain public...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: A return to the Stalinist regime.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: To help the House, I should have mentioned that on page 12 of the Bill there is a new restatement of the provision for special exemption orders. It provides that where a special exemption order has been granted, CCTV may be stipulated as a condition for granting the order. That would differentiate between the cosy pubs of Castlecoote and places in the fast lane.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: The question of employment of young persons in licensed premises is not easy. Persons under the age of 16 are not permitted to work in licensed premises but the employment of certain 16 to 17 year olds is permitted. Their general duties are confined to serving tables and returning empty glasses to the counter. They are not permitted to sell intoxicating liquor.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am being buttered up for something.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I will have to invoke the Werner von Braun defence that it is not my Department. It is the responsibility of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. We are living in a protective nanny-State world, where it is assumed that it would be a dreadful thing for a 16 or 17 year old to be in a pub working at night. However, it is not assumed to be such a terrible thing if he...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: My colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, will be shocked because, having taken many initiatives to appear on the front of newspapers with various proposals in relation to road transport, it is terrible that the Labour Party thinks the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, is still in charge of this area of the law. Amendment, by leave,...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Section 11(7)(a) states:

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: It is meant to have geographical effect.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I believe it does.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I tend to agree with Senator O'Toole. It would not be appropriate for me to dismantle the current arrangements without adequate consultation. I am interested in the points raised by Senator Dardis and that in some parts of the country matters are so bad that grasshoppers are a local delicacy. Senator Derek McDowell's point about the difference in opinion regarding the employment of young...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have heard the Senators' comments. According to existing law, if alcohol is delivered to a person in a private residence, no offence is committed regardless of parental consent. The new element of the law is that there has to be parental consent. I accept fully the point the Senators make that it is possible where an offence has been committed for a parent to absolve a youngster...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have discussed this matter with a number of interested parties and listened to the views of a number of Senators on either side of the argument. With a view to accommodating holidaying families and people in rural areas and to avoiding complication of the law by providing different time limits at different times of the year, and taking into account the fact that sunset occurs in the west 40...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I listened to the Irish Hotels Federation privately and to a reaction of its views in public that this measure was anti-family. Nobody would say it is anti-family to have a notice in a hotel saying that children must be out of the bar by 9 p.m.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Nobody would say that a hotel is anti-family in such circumstances, especially when they could sit outside on the armchairs in the rest of the hotel having their Club Oranges and the parents could bring out the pints to them.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: The pints would be for the parents. As somebody who has brought children away to holiday hotels on many occasions, I know there will be an occasion when junior will march into the bar, probably in his pyjamas, to complain that one of the other children has been beating him up upstairs or something like that. I do not expect the Garda to seize or close the premises if they see this happening....