Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I will refer to the survey by the British Home Office because it is interesting. It notes evidence from countries that have moved from strict opening hours to a more relaxed regime, such as Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Iceland, and the experience has been that liberalised regimes tend to result in higher levels of alcohol consumption and more alcohol related problems of crime and disorder. A more recent survey carried out in England and Wales for the Local Government Association reported increases in alcohol related incidents. For example, half of all police authorities said that longer opening hours simply resulted in incidents occurring later at night.