Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is almost a year since Sinn Féin's Private Members' motion in the Seanad that sought to save the night-time economy. I know the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, was on maternity leave but I wonder what the Minister, Deputy Harris, was doing. The general scheme of the sale of alcohol Bill 2022 was published in October and there is still a good bit to be resolved. By the sounds of it the Government is dragging its heels on this issue. The Bill should have been presented by now and things are extremely difficult for the industry, with costs and takings down 50% and 60% on pre-Covid levels.

Licensing and insurance are at the heart of this issue. Licensing is still a cost that is too high. I am not sure what has successfully been done around rip-off insurance for these businesses but we need to kill these costs. Where is this legislation? It needs to go through. Fine Gael would have you believe that it is the party for the economy but businesses are closing in this industry. We need this legislation and we cannot be here this time next year without it. Businesses are closing in the night-time industry.