Alcohol from off-licences to show identity of seller

All alcohol purchased from an off-licence or pub takeaway would have to carry a mark identifying where it is sold under a new proposal by the Minister for Justice to curb drink-related anti-social behaviour.

The mark on tins and bottles of alcohol would identify the name and address of the retailer, thereby helping to trace off-licences and pubs which sold drink to minors, according to Mr McDowell.

The Minister also plans to update the penalties on off-licences that permit customers to consume drink near their premises, he told the Oireachtas justice committee yesterday.

The current penalty for this offence, under legislation dating back to 1924, is £50 (€63.50), but Mr McDowell said he would "modernise" this in the Intoxicating Liquor Bill currently being prepared.

Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy, offered his party's co-operation to the Government on expediting the passage of the Bill through the Oireachtas.

But this depended on the Minister's willingness to agree to early closing-times for pubs at the weekend, he said.

Mr Deasy described as "a load of shite" the Minister's comment that the Fine Gael policy document on drink "could have been written on the back of a beermat".

However, on the urging of the committee chairman, Mr Seán Ardagh, he withdrew the remark.

Mr McDowell said he was anxious to obtain a consensus view and would facilitate Fine Gael's request for co-operation.

He also stoutly defended his proposal to transfer jurisdiction for discrimination cases against pubs from the Equality Tribunal to the District Court.

Civil liberties, Travellers and disability groups restated their opposition to this proposal in a presentation to the committee after the Minister had left.

Mr Thomas McCann, of the Irish Traveller Movement, described it as a "fundamental erosion" of equality legislation which would prove unworkable.

However, Mr McDowell said that while it was suggested that he was sweeping away existing law in this area, "nothing could be further from the truth".

The obligation on publicans not to discriminate was not changing and any person refused service would be as fully protected as before.

"Anyone who claims this Bill is emasculating equality legislation is grossly distorting the situation."

Mr McDowell said the District Court would not be "a soft touch" for the licensed trade. It was "a bit rich" for people to suggest that the court was not sufficiently sophisticated or case-hardened to deal with cases.

Labour and Sinn Féin said the Minister's proposals were a "knee-jerk response".

Mr Joe Costello, Labour, attacked the Bill as bitty and lacking in coherence. He said it was "a travesty" that the Bill was being prepared at this time and claimed it contained "outlandish" proposals to deal with drunkenness.

Calling on the Minister to "go back to the drawing-board", Mr Costello said the proposals would give publicans an "open-ended discretion" to discriminate against certain people.

Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh of Sinn Féin said the real problem was anti-social behaviour, which was as much related to drug-use as drink in many areas. The court system was already "creaking" but now it was being burdened with more work that was being dealt with adequately at present by the Equality Tribunal.

Mr Finian McGrath, Independent, said the Minister's reaction was "over the top". He was confusing alcohol issues with the problem of bad policing and trying to "rip up" the civil rights programme that had worked over many years.

Mr McDowell said wheelchair-users were being treated "terribly" by some publicans who told them to "tidy themselves or go down somewhere". However, he warned that it could prove difficult to make all pubs accessible to wheelchair-users.