David Norris (Independent)

I have just a few comments to make on the Bill. I welcome it in general but note that it is really a kind of stop-gap measure. The Minister has very engagingly acknowledged this. I welcome the Minister's statement that one of the commission's recommendations is a codification of the intoxicating liquor code currently spread across many statutes. This means, in other words, consolidating and reviewing the entire code. That is where the real action is going to be and it is very important that we do this.

I will return to this matter later but, without intending any insult or insinuation about the operation of the licensing laws at present or the professionalism of personnel in the Dublin District Court, I ask the Minister to look at how the licensing laws are enforced in practice. We have never done that. There is obviously something wrong with the system, but one takes one's life in one's hands by criticising the Judiciary, certainly outside of these hallowed walls. There is something wrong, however, and I do not know why the Judiciary is not telling us about it. It is just implementing the law. The latter is clearly deficient, however, so why is the Judiciary not saying something?

If one criticises the Judiciary in public, one gets into difficulty. I am not making any implication here, but I would like to know why – I am sure it is because of our deficiencies as legislators – there is not some channel whereby judges can ask us to review laws. If there was some kind of meeting place between these two branches of Government, judges could tell us if they are troubled by a law that they are applying, that they are not very happy with the results of its application but that they are bound by its provisions. Could we not establish a mechanism where they could alert the Oireachtas to their concerns? We sometimes read about it in the newspapers when a judge criticises the Oireachtas. Why is there not a proper, efficient bridge whereby, without causing abrasions, contusions, difficulties and outrage, we could learn from each other and know where they were?

I am not criticising the operations of the court except in so far as it produces a result that is absolutely lousy but I would like to know, for example, how it is that half the pubs in Dublin get licensed. There are pubs in my area where there are machine gun battles along the counter, yet they get their licences renewed. Is this a peaceable way of conducting their business?