Young people face fines over pub ID

PEOPLE aged between 18 and 20 will be fined up to €300 from Monday if they are on a licensed premises after 9pm without ID.

From next week young people in the specified age group must carry identification of age if they wish to drink alcohol on a licensed premises.

The regulation is contained in a batch of new liquor licensing laws that come into effect from next week. Also, from next week it will be illegal to allow children in a pub after 9pm.

Publicans will have the discretion to exclude under 18s from their premises at any time of the day but they must be off the premises by 9pm unless they are attending a private function where a substantial meal is being served.

Children under 15 years can also be banned if it appears to the publican that the length of their stay might damage their health, safety or welfare.

Controversial changes to the Equal Status Act will also begin on Monday. From next week jurisdiction in certain discrimination cases in pubs and hotels will transfer from the Equality Authority to the district court. Also, from next week closing time on Thursdays will revert to 11.30pm. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said that there were sufficient gardaí available to enforce the new laws.

“The enforcement of these new laws is crucial,” he said. He also pointed out that the gardaí were no longer obliged to enter a public house in uniform.

The spokesperson said the new laws would make it easier for gardaí to identify underage drinkers, particularly after 9pm.

With alcopops being so popular among younger people, gardaí were having to taste the drink to detect whether or not alcohol was being consumed illegally.

Laura O’Mahony of the National Youth Council of Ireland said they believed it was discriminatory to ask an 18 to 20-year-old person to produce a document proving their age.

“At age 18 a person can legally purchase an alcoholic drink. Why should there be an additional obligation on them to produce evidence of their age?” she asked.

Implicit in the new requirement was that alcohol abuse was a young persons’ problem when those who served it were to blame, she said.

The council is also worried about cases of discrimination in licensed premises being transferred from the Equality Tribunal to the district court.

That was an erosion of the equality legislation and it was wrongly implied that the tribunal had previously been unsuccessful, said the council.