Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. While I do not support or agree with the amendment, I think there is more we agree on than is evident from it. I thank the campaigners, industry workers and promoters from some of the best venues in the city who run some of the best nights in the city. All of us want not just to protect what we have in our nightlife but to ensure that it thrives as a night-time economy and nightlife culture that live up to our reputation around the world as a country of music, song and dance. All of us can agree on that.

I welcome the Minister's commitment for a general scheme of a new sale of alcohol Bill in September. She says she will bring it to one of the first Cabinet meetings after the recess. It is our job to hold the Minister to account and I welcome the commitment she has made. That Bill will take many months to complete its way through both Houses of the Oireachtas and be signed into law. The industry does need budgetary measures and I ask the Minister to consider the waiving of the special exemption orders in the upcoming budget. That would be transformative for the industry.

So many issues have been raised tonight. I thank all the Senators who have stayed on and contributed to a really healthy debate. On transport, Senator Gavan and I were beating our heads against the wall. We put in a question to the Minister for Transport about 24-hour bus routes in Dublin, for example. We received a reply saying that the Minister's remit does not extend to the National Transport Authority.The National Transport Authority has to be accountable to someone and that is something we need to figure out. I thank the Minister for the commitments she has made tonight. We will hold her to account on them. I hope the amendment will not be pressed.