Licensing reforms - Expert view on café bars is important

Dr Ann Hope, National Alcohol Policy Adviser at the Department of Health and the Government’s main advisor on alcohol, has warned that forthcoming legislation to permit cafés to sell alcohol will exacerbate drinking problems.

This is instead of curbing binge drinking, which will purportedly be the aim of Justice Minister Michael McDowell in introducing an Intoxicating Liquor Bill later this year.

Café bars will be intended to promote more responsible drinking, such as on the Continent, where people tend to drink more responsibly without engaging in the kind of binge drinking that has become popular among young people in this country, especially since the advent of the Celtic Tiger economy.

The cafés would have to serve a hot meal with the drink. Proponents argue this would generate an atmosphere and ambience that would encourage moderate social drinking, instead of binge drinking. This was a recommendation in the final report of the Commission on Liquor Licensing, an advisory group set up by the Department of Justice in 2000 to advise on reform of the licensing system.

“Café bars are not going to reduce binge-drinking,” Dr Hope argues. ‘You just cannot parachute in a culture from one country into another.”

Moreover, she contends that scientific evidence would suggest that it is not possible to restrict the consumption of alcohol by providing more outlets for the sale of alcohol.

This warning was following a similar warning by Dr Joe Barry, a public health expert and a member of the National Drugs Strategy Team. He contends that the proposed legislation would undermine government efforts to combat alcohol-related problems, which costs the State around €2.65 billion annually.

Both Dr Hope and Dr Barry were members of the Department of Health’s Strategic Task Force on Alcohol that suggested in 2002, in line with recommendations of the World Health Organisation, that the Government should try to restrict consumption by raising taxes on alcohol. The task force further advised that - because of the high level of consumption and harmful drinking patterns in this country - the number of outlets and the hours during which alcohol may be sold should be restricted.

Vintners are inevitably going to oppose legislation designed to restrict drinking, especially if it allows for the provision of licences for cafés to sell alcohol. Publicans waged a strong campaign to prevent the smoking ban, but this proved to be spectacularly misguided, because the ban has been very popular, even among smokers.

The smoking ban has demonstrated that long-term drinking habits can be influenced by other factors. More people, especially smokers, have begun drinking in private houses. It could take some time to determine whether this turns out to be a positive or a negative change.

The current government’s record on the careful consideration of legislation has not always been inspiring. The proposed introduction of voting machines proved to be a very expensive fiasco. The cost of providing medical cards for people over 70 was grossly underestimated, and the Supreme Court struck out the legislation in relation to the nursing home charges.

The advice of medical experts certainly needs to be considered very carefully, especially when it comes to what might be called pioneering legislation.