Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Imelda Henry to the Gallery today. She is a great advocate for publicans and vintners. As she is a fearless and good advocate for them and well fit to articulate their position, she is not afraid to deal with a diversity of views. I know that she will take all views on board.

I rise to oppose the legislation on a number of grounds. The first is that the tradition of closing on a Good Friday is a deep rooted tradition in Ireland. It is part of the Irish identity and arises from our Christian identity. I make no apology for the fact that the great majority of people have a Christian ethos and ethic. In actual fact, this is non-sectarian to the extent that all the Christian churches are ad idemon it. This is part of a specific Irish identity and tradition and a deep rooted part of our culture and heritage. It therefore merits respect on those grounds. As a colleague said to me earlier, we cannot allow the country to become totally bland and adopt every new fad at a whim in a thoughtless fashion. I, therefore, think this merits a lot of consideration.

At a subliminal level having the pubs closed on a Good Friday sent a message about restraint and the moderate use of alcohol. People talk about having a day of alcohol education on the day. The best way to do it is to have the pubs closed and to marry the two. It sent an important message and was an important part of our identity.

Ms Henry and the other publican representatives here know and would be the first to say that quite a number of their members are not in favour of opening the pubs on a Good Friday.It was interesting that two of eight had indicated they were against it in the random survey done by my colleague Senator McFadden. I suspect that the number would increase if she did a wider and less urban trawl. I find that many publicans are delighted to have the only two days off that they have all year, including that particular day.

The point that the staff will somehow get magic money for the day is a nonsense. Quite truthfully, it will involve staff coming in on an extra day, which was a day they had off, and they will work at the same rate because margins are so tight. If they are earning €400 per week on average, it is pie in the sky and nonsense to think-----