Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of licensing laws. Last year, in May or June, Sinn Féin brought forward a Private Members' motion urging the Government to save the night-time economy. Fine Gael has made a lot of political capital out of announcement after announcement but still there has been no change. The response from the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to a parliamentary question last November stated that it was now the intention to bring forward "a shorter Bill to provide for key reforms including the standardisation of opening hours for pubs and off-licences" and to "introduce annual late bar and nightclub permits as well as cultural amenity licences".We have to get this over the line. Campaigners are worried that this will not happen, as am I. What assurances can the Leader, as a representative of the Government in this House, give me that this Bill will be introduced in quarter 1 of 2024 as the Minister says? We have received an email today from groups calling for a health impact assessment of the Bill as proposed by the Oireachtas committee. I have no problem with that whatsoever. I think the health impact assessment should also be in terms of the current situation, whereby people do not just go home after a night out. They go to house parties or illegal raves or parties. What is the health impact of keeping the status quo? Our streets will be safer if we do not shut down premises at the very same time. There will be less pressure on transport services. At the end of the day, we are a small country. We are talking about a handful of nightclubs that would serve alcohol until 5 a.m., a maximum of ten across the country I would say and most of them in this city. We need to bear that in mind when we are talking about these changes.