John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the inputs and contributions her Department has made to the review of licensing laws; if she is planning to recommend an entertainment licence that would have validity on an annual as opposed to event basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22378/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Report of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce, which I published in September 2021, contains 36 practical recommendations in the area of regulation, licensing, planning, transport, safety and increasing the diversity of activities as part of the night-time offering.

The modernisation of our licensing laws was one of the key recommendations of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce.  Minister McEntee and her officials in the Department of Justice are leading on this important work.  The Justice Plan 2022, published by Minister McEntee a few weeks ago, commits to publish and enact new laws to update and modernise licensing law through the Sale of Alcohol Bill. 

The Department of Justice is delivering on the first stage of that commitment and I understand that work on the consolidation and reform of the licensing laws and the drafting of the General Scheme is advancing well. How we will deliver these reforms is being examined and a review of all aspects of licensing is part of this process.  Officials in my Department liaise regularly with Justice officials on this important work in the context of the work of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce Report.

We will continue to work with the NTE sector on a wide range of supportive measures as part of the implementation of the Report of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce.