Ivana Bacik (Independent)

A better approach to section 35 might be to insert a provision which would allow the authority to refuse a licence to a person where it felt the person had not complied adequately with any code of practice issued by the authority under section 18. I take the Minister's point about avoiding the creation of unworkable criminal penalties. It would seem to me, however, that such a provision could give some sort of teeth to any code of practice the authority may issue. I may table an amendment on this on Report Stage. This may be a way of ensuring licensees are robustly encouraged to comply with codes of practice.