Fixed payment penalty for illegal street drinking doubles to €50

PEOPLE caught drinking illegally on Cork’s streets will face fixed payment fines of €50, a doubling of the penalty.

The amended bylaws will come into operation today.

The new fine is contained in an amendment to the bylaws introduced in 2001 prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in public places.

Councillors recently approved the amendment of the laws, which double the fine from €25 to €50.

Strict enforcement by gardaí would be crucial to making this amendment effective, the council has said.

City manager Joe Gavin, when the amendments came up for debate at council level, said: “I don’t think a fine of €50 or €150 would make any difference. It is a cultural situation.”

A fixed payment notice will be served on any person in contravention of the bylaws by drinking on the streets or in a public place.

The fixed payment will have to be made within a designated period, usually 21 days, in order to avoid prosecution, under the terms of the amended laws.

The laws were introduced to the city in 1998. The council then erected more than 50 signs throughout the city warning anyone found drinking in the streets that they face a hefty fine.

Signs were erected at both ends of South Mall near public parks, where problems with young people drinking had occurred.

Signs were also put in place in the Washington Street area, South Main Street, Merchants Quay, Paul Street, Shalom Park and near the Mardyke.

When the amendment to the bylaws came before the council for discussion Fianna Fáil’s Terry Shannon said fine increases would be welcomed but he said enforcement was crucial.

His party colleague Sean Martin said he believed hefty fines were the only way to tackle the problem.

Labour’s Michael O’Connell believed policing was the problem, while Sinn Féin’s Jonathon O’Brien questioned the effectiveness of the existing bylaw.

Anyone issued with an on-the-stop fine has 21 days to pay.

After that the gardaí can initiate a prosecution through the courts.