Derek McDowell (Labour)

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 9, subsection (2)(a), line 20, to delete "first" and substitute "second".

These amendments are in the name of the Labour Party Senators. The Minister has anticipated the point in his last comments about penalties. The Bill creates several new offences, including serving drink to drunk people, permitting drunkenness and disorderly conduct and so on. It sets out, as the Minister has pointed out, fairly low financial penalties for publicans of €1,500 for a first offence or a maximum of €2,000 for second and subsequent offences in the District Court. I understand why he is doing that and, broadly speaking, I agree with him.

This section provides for a mandatory closure order not exceeding a week for the first offence. Requiring a mandatory closure after the first offence is a little extreme. It is also obviously far more important to a publican than any of the small financial penalties that he or she will also suffer. The purpose of the amendment is to provide that the mandatory closure order – the important word here is "mandatory"– comes into play only after second or subsequent offences rather than the first, something that is a more proportionate response to the offences concerned. On the face of it, as the law currently stands, if one drunk person is served a drink too many, the pub can be closed for up to a week and must be closed for some period, it would seem. For a first offence, that seems a little harsh.