Major report into extending pub opening hours set to be published

Vivienne Clarke

A major report on the proposed changes to pub licensing laws will be published on Thursday.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee has been examining the changes being proposed by Minister Helen McEntee.

There are suggestions to stagger and extend opening hours for nightclubs and late bars.

The chair of the committee, Fianna Fáil TD James Lawless, questioned if the support is in place for when the proposed legislation for the nighttime economy is introduced.

“Is it give us the night or is it give us the drink?” he asked on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“It doesn’t have to be about the drink. That’s where we have the problem,” he said.

“We want to support the nighttime economy, just not with a drink in hand.”

Mr Lawless pointed out that Ireland is in the top 10 in the world for binge drinking. “We want to party like southern Europeans, but we drink like northern Europeans,” he said.

If there was going to be deregulation, then there needed to be support in place, an ecosystem involving public transport and public health measures, he said.

Mr Lawless said he welcomed moves to streamline licensing laws.

However, while he agreed with attempts to modernise such legislation, “we need to mature our attitude around alcohol. One in ten people in this country have an alcohol-use disorder, and that's very high.

“We want to party like southern Europeans, but we have a drinking culture like northern Europeans, and we really need to square that circle.”