Eddie Bohan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, to the House. I congratulate him on this Bill which expeditiously clears up the grey area that emerged when he was put in an awkward position between the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions. When I spoke on Committee Stage of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill, I appealed to the Minister to extend the 9 p.m. watershed to 10 p.m. It is impossible for the large number of licensed premises that serve food to ask families with children having a meal to leave at 9 p.m. I hope, like Senator Ryan, it can be extended to a year round basis, as families go for meals in the winter too. I hope the licensing and codification Bill will provide for this extension in winter time as 10 p.m. is not really late. I disagree with Senator O'Toole's claim that it is not possible to get hot drinks, such as a cappuccino or hot port, in some licensed premises. A licensed premises where one cannot get a hot drink is now an exception, as 95% supply them. Recently, I got coffee and sandwiches in a small pub in Drogheda at 5 o'clock in the evening.

All Members are concerned about under age and binge drinking. However, another problem lies in home drinking. A culture has emerged where young people now consume alcohol before going out to the pub or disco. Instead of paying €4 for a drink in a pub, young people can go to supermarkets and off-licences. Supermarkets, particularly foreign ones that have opened recently, sell foreign-brewed beer at €1 per can in a loss leader strategy. As €30 can purchase much alcohol, it encourages young people to load up the boot of a car. Then, after the party at home, they head out, well steamed up, to a pub or disco at 10 p.m. Unfortunately, many of these supermarkets employ foreign nationals. They are perfectly entitled to these jobs and I am glad about that. However, it is hard for people from China or Africa to determine whether a customer is 18 or 16 years of age. They do not really care anyway as they are part-time workers and will just serve the alcohol. A solution to this could be found in the codification Bill. We will be making representations to the Minister before that Bill is introduced to the House. I congratulate the Minister on clearing up this grey area.