Seanad debates

Thursday, 22 May 2003

Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages.

 

Section 4, dealing with the closure order, does not refer to a strict offence. There is a recognition that there must be some kind of fault on the part of the person against whom the order is made. A Garda notice must be served and the person must be requested to take certain action. Under the section dealing with the closure order there is no such reference. It merely states that a closure order can be made if there is disorder or noise and, as far as I can make out, does not refer to any fault of the licensee or person responsible. If a dispute arose about the serving of such a notice, for example, or the reasonableness of it on the part of the Garda, this is not covered under section 5. If a premises was closed for 30 days, and that affected the person's business in the long term, would that person have an action against the State on the grounds that his or her livelihood was taken away, possibly without that person being at fault?

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