Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his opening remarks and for bringing this Bill so speedily to the House. When the Garda became aware of this issue, it was unfortunate that the way it implemented the initial process was to go and tell publicans that they may not have been legally entitled to do what they were doing. It was particularly unfortunate, as other Members have said, that this came after the State had facilitated, through various and very welcome local authority schemes, the provision of infrastructure to allow publicans to do such things. Perhaps lessons have been learned, or at least I hope they have been learned, so that in future when the Garda becomes aware of an issue it will flag the matter with the Minister in advance of it coming up, rather than going out and doing what it had to do. Thankfully, at an operational level, certainly, the Garda has been very understanding of the situation and this legislation will regulate it.

I understand that this is a time-limited provision until 30 November. Hopefully, we will not need it again at that stage. I do not really fancy the idea of too much outdoor dining and drinking in December, January and February, given the weather we are likely to have. This Bill, however, is very welcome. I echo the sentiments expressed by other Members. This was an appalling, terrible and devastating week for the entire hospitality industry, but particularly for those in the licensed trade and the restaurant business. After 16 months, they had seen the prospect of some level of hope on the horizon. We have learnt in recent days that this Delta variant is devastating, impactful and has a great capacity to wreak havoc on our society. We know that, and I think publicans understand it. Still, however, it was a very frustrating week for them, their staff and their customers who were all hoping we were going to get back to some level of normality.

I note that if we all spoke for five minutes, we would not have time to do Committee and Report Stages. Thankfully, though, there are not as many people here as the schedule allowed. I am not going to delay the passage of this legislation, because I welcome it very much. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, his Department, the Office of the Attorney General and all the people involved in progressing this legislation so speedily. As Senator Gallagher said, this Bill was only introduced in the last week or two and we already have laws coming into effect speedily. There is also a motion to ensure the legislation will take early effect when it is passed to give clarity to the hospitality industry. Therefore, I welcome all the provisions in the legislation regarding the Garda and publicans.

I ask that the Minister of State clarify the aspect of this legislation concerning increasing the number of High Court judges from 37 to 42. Is there an expectation that 42 will then be the level in future or is this increase because of the pandemic? As judges retire and get promoted over time, will their complement return to the base level of 37, or is it envisaged that having 42 judges will be the new standard level? That is my only question regarding the legislation.

I welcome this Bill. Publicans and restaurateurs and others in the hospitality industry welcome it as well. It makes perfect sense to do this. Through local authorities and other State bodies, we have already been facilitating the provision of outdoor seating and infrastructure. I acknowledge what Senator Bacik said. I tried to cycle through Merrion Row, but I have given up now and I go a different way. It is not ideal, but this is an emergency situation we are dealing with. I again thank the Minister of State and his Department, and, hopefully, we can get this legislation passed as speedily as possible.