Seanad debates
Wednesday, 18 June 2003
Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage.
I would like to deal in more detail with those provisions of the Bill which have caught my attention and a few aspects which the Minister might examine before Committee Stage. The provisions under sections 4 to 9 in Part 2 of the Bill largely update and improve the law regarding the sale or supply of drink to persons who are already drunk, offences committed by people who have become drunk, and the obligation of the licence-holder to keep an orderly house. All those provisions are welcome, and I have only two minor issues which I ask the Minister to examine. First, I wonder why the provision in section 18 of the Licensing Act 1872 entitling a licence-holder to turn out of the premises any person who is drunk has not been repeated or replicated in the provision of paragraph 4(1) of the Bill. I respectfully submit that, at the same time as requiring the licence-holder to refuse to admit any drunken person, there should be formal recognition of the licence-holder's right to remove from his or her premises any drunken person who has already gained admission and who has refused to comply with a lawful request to leave, subject, of course, to the limitation that only moderate or reasonable force be used in removing the drunken person from the premises.
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