PUB licences have taken on the same artificial value as taxi plates, the Dail Committee on Legislation heard yesterday. The committee was told by representatives of the Bar Council that a pub licence which was valued at £15,000 ten years ago is now fetching £40,000.
Ms Carol O'Kennedy of the Bar Council said there were many anomalies in the legislation governing the sale of liquor. One was the need to extinguish two licences outside Dublin in order to open a new outlet to sell drink.
She agreed with the committee that the problem had been largely created by supermarket chains opening off licences in country towns. This had created an artificial demand and a genuine shortage of licences to be extinguished.
Ms O'Kennedy proposed that the committee recommend that it be sufficient to extinguish just bone licence. She also called for special licences for tourist attractions such as museums and art galleries. Their opening hours should be equivalent to the opening hours of the museum or gallery to avoid the danger of them being turned into night clubs, Ms O'Kennedy said.
She said it was ridiculous that the RDS could get an occasional licence for the weekdays of the Horse Show but not on the Sunday. She also described as ridiculous the current legislation that allows a pub with a restaurant to serve drink till 1.30 a.m. but only midnight on Saturdays.
Ms O'Kennedy said the rules of evidence needed to be changed in relation to under age drinking. It was difficult to achieve a successful prosecution because so many different people were being held responsible, Ms O'Kennedy added.
She criticised the "draconian" measure of putting a publican out of business after a third endorsement of his licence. Ms O'Kennedy said this led to the quick sale of pubs in the week leading up to a court appearance. She suggested instead that a more appropriate punishment would be the forced closure of the pub for a week on the first offence, two weeks on the second, and so on.
Ms Constance Cassidy, author of a new legal textbook dealing with this area, who also spoke on behalf of the Bar Council, asked whether the Garda would be better employed "out on the beat" than attending court to consent to a request for a special licence. She said it would be better if Bord Failte rather than the Garda had the legal authority in such cases to decide what was or was not a restaurant.
Much of the problem with the licensing laws was that they were based on British legislation which considered that the Irish should not drink at all, according to Ms Cassidy. She also drew attention to the possibility that "a grotty, rundown premises" in the Temple Bar area of Dublin could command a price of £350,000 to extinguish its licence.
Mr Charles Flanagan (FG), chairman of the committee, asked if there might be compensation problems if the committee decided on measures to reduce the value of licences. Mr John Browne (FG) asked if it was right that "a piece of paper" should now be worth £40,000.
Mr Derek McDowell (Lab) said the committee had briefly considered the possibility that the issuing of licences should be taken from the courts and given to an independent statutory body. Ms O'Kennedy said the Bar Council believed the courts had done a magnificent job in this area and responsibility should remain with them.