Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He continued:

We talk about creating an inclusive society, openness and giving people responsibility for their actions. Perhaps somebody could tell me why pubs do not open on Good Friday.

He went on to capture what has now become the great irony of the Good Friday prohibition, stating that, "The prescription is more often honoured in the breach than the observance." This is plainly the case right across the country, where Holy Thursday is now one of the single biggest off-sales days for supermarkets and off-licence outlets in the entire year. Past Ministers for Justice have acknowledged time and again that a people are free and entitled to take a drink in their home and that the prohibition on pubs opening on Good Friday does not interfere with a person’s right to take a drink on that day if that person so wishes. It is of course perfectly true to say this, but what the current Minister must acknowledge is that incentivising low-cost drinking away from the controlled environment of licensed premises directly contradicts the current Government's entire alcohol policy. It is stated Government policy that, to reduce binge drinking in Ireland, an objective with which I believe no one in this House would disagree, we need to remove cheap, low-cost alcohol from our supermarkets and off-licence outlets.