Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this amendment is to address a potential difficulty arising from an amendment carried in respect of section 1(1)(b). I will briefly refer to the background. The Bill originally provided for the granting of a retail licence to craft breweries and distilleries that would permit them to sell intoxicating liquor produced on their premises to tourists and visitors who had participated in a guided tour of the premises. Both on-sales and off-sales would be permitted. In all cases sales would be restricted to intoxicating liquor produced on the premises and only to those who had participated in a guided tour of the brewery or distillery concerned. This Bill still provides two application options. An applicant may apply to the Circuit Court for an on-licence, that is, a licence permitting consumption on the premises, or to the District Court where the applicant has no facilities for consumption on the premises and intends instead to sell only for consumption off the premises.

During discussions in committee it was suggested by Deputies that licensees should also be permitted to engage in off-sales to persons other than those who had participated in guided tours of the premises, and an Opposition Report Stage amendment to that effect was carried. My concern and the concern of the Government was such that a widening of the Bill's scope would create a new form of off-licence that could lead to abuses and could also lead to potentially unfair competition from other off-licences such as the specialist off-licence sector.

The Opposition amendment inserted the words "for consumption on the premises" in section 1(1)(b). The intention was to restrict the guided tour requirement and not apply it in the case of off-sales to those who had not participated in a guided tour of the premises. While the revised wording appeared to achieve the desired objective, dropping the guided tour requirement in the case of off-sales, the Attorney General's office has identified a potential difficulty arising from the revised text of subsection(1)(b). A literal interpretation of the revised text suggests that a craft brewery or distillery intending to apply for an off-licence, which may be obtained from the District Court, must nonetheless satisfy the court that a mechanism is in place that permits sales for consumption on the premises only to those who have completed the guided tour of the premises. Clearly, that was not the intention of those who proposed the amendment since it would create an insuperable obstacle to applications for an off-licence.

The Attorney General's office has advised that the words "for consumption on the premises" be removed from subsection (1)(b), and that is the purpose of this amendment. I am assured that the removal of these words will in no way restrict the possibility of off-sales to those who have not participated in a guided tour of the premises because subsection (6)(b) now makes specific provision for such off-sales.

I assure the Senators that my purpose in tabling this amendment is not to frustrate in any way the objective of the Opposition amendment to permit off-sales to those who have not participated in a guided tour but rather to remove a potential obstacle to the operation of the licensing mechanism. In this regard, I commend the amendment to the House.