Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I quoted Shakespeare to them. He said misery makes for strange bedfellows. I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for clarifying a few issues that have caused much confusion. I wish to make the case for the No Name Club organisation which needs more support than merely saying it is doing great work. By "support" I mean assistance with the organisation of discos and other functions, whether it is in a community hall or a licensed premises. In County Mayo the group is known as Dóthain. Dr. Michael Loftus has championed this particular cause for years. County Roscommon has another name for the organisation.

Transport to events is also a major problem. As the Minister stated, licensed premises are more popular venues as they have good lighting, comfortable surroundings, disco music, special effects and so on. The Garda will confirm that many problems are associated with buses taking circuitous routes to these centres. Drink is often taken on board both on the way to events and on the way home. The current trend is for young people to travel further from home to discos and such events. I urge the Minister to address this issue.

I welcome the extension of the 9 p.m. exemption to 10 p.m. but I would like to see it in operation all year round. The Minister referred to the tourism season. However, in County Galway, the three-day racing festival in July and early August has been extended to a week. Two oyster festivals follow that and another racing festival takes place on the October bank holiday weekend. It is very difficult to say when the tourism season starts and finishes in County Galway.

Previous speakers referred to social events in licensed premises, such as weddings, retirement parties and birthday parties, particularly 21st birthday parties, which are important occasions. One does not expect everyone at a 21st birthday party to be over 18 because younger members of families also attend such events.

What takes place after discos is a great cause for concern. As a father of teenagers, I am very worried about this issue. If we had enough taxis they could be relied on to bring people home safely, but that is not the case. I smile when I hear of people in Galway saying their young people come home in a taxi and if they do not have enough money, the parents will leave money on the table in the hall for them so they can pay when they get home. That is not an option when there are not enough taxis.

The Minister referred to Galway in connection with the Director of Public Prosecution's direction that prosecutions be taken in certain cases where alcohol-free events were being held in licensed premises. Even though the District Court dismissed the charges on hearing that alcohol was not available and the bar shutters were closed, it still caused a great deal of concern as some confusion remained.

At No Name Club functions I observed that soft drinks were available close to the door where one paid one's admission. In fact, the drink was almost given away for free, which was not a very good situation either. It is important for bar owners to know what are their rights and obligations. Difficult situations can arise for bar owners who have two bars or more in a premises which have to be organised and supervised. Another difficulty relates to people getting passes for a premises due to the risk of them availing of drink elsewhere.

Accusations have been levelled at the Minister and others regarding the nanny state syndrome. That is all right as regards cutting turf but not accident and emergency departments. We have all seen programmes about this and I listened to discussions about it when I was a member of a health board. The suggestion was often made in that forum, as elsewhere, that people in a drunken state in need of accident and emergency services should be charged.

One of the best things we ever did in the Western Health Board was to organise a one-day conference on alcoholism. A board member, Dr. Greg Kelly, spoke very movingly about his situation as a GP in the town of Castlerea where a disco was held every weekend. He was often up all night treating people involved in accidents or rows. The Garda was aware of what was going on. At one stage he was told he should get a psychiatrist's or psychologist's report at 3 a.m. His response was to query where he would get such people at that time of night.