Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the comments and will respond briefly to the points made. I assure the House that much remains to be done with intoxicating liquor legislation. It is worth reiterating the following example in case anyone is thinking of investing heavily in the area.

The position of theatres under the liquor licensing laws is highly unsatisfactory. Premises operate on theatre licences issued by the Revenue Commissioners in circumstances that I imagine were never contemplated by those who adopted the laws. Effectively, all-night drinking is taking place with the odd performance on stage in buildings that none of us in the House would regard as theatres and that are not substantially different in layout from this Chamber. That this should happen is wrong and I will address it. It was too complicated in the time available to devise methods of working out what is and is not a theatre in the commonly accepted use and meaning of the term. Perhaps we will have to restrict theatre licences to being certified by the Arts Council or some such system. There must be some system in future of working out what is a theatre.