Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I have mixed views on the issue of closing times. Senator Bacik spoke about dancing until dawn but I visited a night club only once in the past ten years, on the occasion of a birthday, and I felt somewhat out of place. Most of the people there appeared young enough to be my children or grandchildren.

There is a problem in terms of the misuse and abuse of alcohol and we should not forget that. I am not sure that stipulating the time at which nightclubs must close will help to resolve this. I have witnessed what happens when people spill out of nightclubs. Most of them are, unfortunately, well-loaded. I do not buy into the argument that there is a short supply of taxis. Dublin is flooded with taxis. At around 1 a.m. travelling down Dawson Street one Thursday night recently I noted there were taxis parked from one end of the street to the other.

There is another notion I would also like to put to bed. In my constituency, as in most rural towns, there is only one nightclub and as such no issue arises in regard to people spilling out on to the street at the same time. The Minister of State might correct me or clarify for me the following point. When this issue was being debated by the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party I recall the current Minister stating that he had been informed in discussions with the Garda Síochána at Commissioner level, that this issue was not a matter of concern for the Garda Síochána. Apparently, in areas where there are three or four nightclubs people are staggering from one to the other.

I may be wrong on this and the Minister of State can correct me if I am. While I believed this issue was of concern to the Garda Síochána, the Minister stated that in discussions with the Garda Síochána at Commissioner level he was informed that the staggering of closing times in the context of crowd control was not an issue of concern for the Garda. I would have thought that where there are five or six nightclubs in one area it would be helpful if they closed at different times, say, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. as this would make it easier for people to get taxis home and would assist the Garda from a public order perspective. Perhaps I misunderstood the Minister but I was taken aback that his advice from top ranking Garda is that this is not the case. I would like if this matter could be put to bed once and for all. If that is the advice from the Garda Síochána then the Minister should heed it. However, I accept I may have misunderstood the Minister.