Minister’s bill tough on drunks

THE Government has approved the publication of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003 which contains tough provisions to combat drunkenness and disorderly conduct and abolishes late opening on Thursdays.

The bill includes strict penalties in relation to the sale and supply of drink to drunken persons and those under 21 must have ID.

Closing time on Thursday nights is being brought back to 11.30pm and there is to be a prohibition on the provision of entertainment during the 30 minutes drinking-up time as well as a ban on promotions in bars which encourage drinking.

"The first point is that this Bill is an interim response to the recommendations of the Commission on Liquor Licensing and the first report of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol established by the Minister of Health and Children," the Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday on the second stage of the Bill in the Seanad.

Mr McDowell said he had decided to bring forward the present shorter bill to respond to urgent recommendations of the Commission.

"When we look at the factors that have contributed to the increase in alcohol consumption - societal and demographic changes; changing lifestyles and expectations; more disposable income, especially among young people; a lessening of parental control on young people we realise that the problem of alcohol-related harm is multi-dimensional and that simplistic solutions will not work.

"The State has an important role to play in addressing the problems but it must be combined with action at other levels: local community action; action within the family, where values and parental example are crucial; and finally at individual level where self esteem and self respect are all important," Mr McDowell said.

It will be an offence "for any person to be present in any public place while intoxicated to such an extent as would give rise to a reasonable apprehension that the person might endanger them selves or any other person in the vicinity," Mr McDowell said.

The Bill prohibits the supply of intoxicating liquor to drunken persons by the licensees, as well as drunkenness in the licensed premises.

"It provides that a licensee shall not admit a drunken person to the bar, and that where a person is drunk on leaving a licensed premises, it shall be presumed that the person was drunk while on the premises until the contrary is proved," Mr McDowell said.

The Bill places a duty on licensees to preserve order on licensed premises, while section 8 prohibits disorderly conduct on such premises.

The Health Minister Micheál Martin is drafting legislation to impose limits on alcohol advertising on TV, radio, cinema, magazines, schools, youth centres, public transport, and public buildings.