Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Regarding the last issue, since I made my comments I have heard no more from the vintners groups to indicate that they are extricating themselves from their agreement to abide by the code of practice. I am still hoping we will get more enlightenment in a response to that issue. It is important the code of practice is given statutory effect. This is an important move forward. Consideration was given to enforcement and the main enforcement mechanism in the legislation is that, if there is a failure to abide by the code of practice, it can be raised at the annual licensing courts by the Garda Síochána or others and this will raise the issue of what court might do. This is a way of ensuring some transparency with regard to the application of the code.

Work is being done on the code and it will ultimately be published. It will be a transparent code that people can access. It is important to create a situation where it has a statutory backdrop, meaning there is a validity in raising it in the legal context of a court application for a licence renewal in circumstances where those who should abide by it have failed to do so.