Seanad debates

Thursday, 19 June 2003

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage.

 

10:30 am

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

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 houses the obligation to have closed circuit television cameras, either within or at the entrance of premises, would be helpful to the Garda Síochána. Where there has been trouble in a public house, a public order Act passed recently provides that the District Court can make it a requirement, as a consequence of intervention in such cases, that a closed circuit television system should be established.

I accept that what Senator Derek McDowell has suggested is discretionary and that what Senator Terry has suggested is mandatory. My concern is that if one takes Killorglin, County Kerry – a favourite – or the town of Loughrea, of which I do not have as fond memories because I am usually involved in a traffic jam, and considers the number of pubs on the main street and the amount of closed circuit television monitors that would have to be installed, one would have to ask whether all those premises are getting five customers each night and if this requirement would be proportionate.

Senator Bohan's allies in the public house trade are mainly Dublin orientated but in rural Ireland many public houses are, at best, economically marginal and teetering on the brink of closure in many cases. With rates expenditure and so on, it is hard to make a living in many public houses, some of which are run more as hobbies than as real sources of a livelihood. I do not know the cost of a closed circuit television camera but I am sure it would cost a few thousand euro.

If the district judge is of the opinion that this is a good idea for a publican, he or she can impose this liability but the question arises as to whether he or she could do so in respect of every pub in Killorglin or Loughrea and not in others. There would be a great deal of argument. I want to think about the matter further and 2004 will be the time to do it. It is not as if there is nothing in place. Under the Public Order Bill, where any of these establishments, including fast food outlets, become a focus of disorder, this power is available.

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