Results 221-240 of 18,463 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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....

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

Michael McDowell: It will have to be "any open bar or any part of licensed premises which is exclusively or mainly used for the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor". One knows a bar when one sees one. Defining it is one thing but it is like an elephant, one knows it when one sees it. This is clear. The bar in a hotel or any licensed premises is not a place where youngsters can be found. I could have...

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

Michael McDowell: As I mentioned on Second Stage, I am only interested in enacting legislation that is enforceable. Having listened to the views of Deputies, Senators and other interested parties on the issue of age documents, I accept that it would be difficult for 15, 16 and 17 year olds to produce such a document, as many of them, such as age cards or drivers' licences, are not available to 15 and 16 year...

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

Michael McDowell: There are sharply divided opinions on this section, which I accept. Some have taken it as an implied criticism of the equality tribunal that this decision was made. I offer no such criticism. The tribunal is doing an excellent job but a licensed premises is not the same as Brown Thomas, for example. The decision to admit or not to admit is a matter of legal consequence and controlled by the...