Public Consultation On Reform of Licensing Laws

The Government is currently considering reforming our outdated laws governing the sale of alcohol.
"The Programme for Government commits to ‘modernising our licensing laws and application processes’ and the Justice Plan 2021 commits to reviewing and modernising alcohol licensing. In addition, the issue of outdated alcohol licensing legislation was a key challenge identified by stakeholders in the recently published report of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce.
Therefore, the Minister intends to modernise alcohol licensing laws through the Sale of Alcohol Bill. The existing laws governing sale and regulation of alcohol in Ireland have been rooted in principles of the transparent regulation and administration of licensing, the importance of public health and the maintenance of public order. These principles will underpin this reform process."

Because of the current situation, whereby commercial activity, namely the sale of alcohol, is governed by licensing, there is a school of thought that the market has been distorted. The deregulation of the taxi industry is quoted as an example of an industry where improvements of access to a service and ease of entry to the market were some of the benefits of deregulation.

In my view, if someone has a good business idea and wants to open a business, as long as they comply with planning laws and the rules governing the sale of alcohol to minors or drunks, then they should be allowed to do so.

The current situation where business is controlled by government and forced by law to close at the same time as all of their competitors leads to a mass exodus of consumers onto the street at the same time putting pressure on law enforcement, and ancillary businesses.


Here is a link to the consultation page:

 
Early & uniform closing hours are a disaster. There'll be an initial period of messiness with late hours but the novelty will wear off and then people will go home in staggered times.

Also, it will lead to more sensible consumption instead of the stupidness you get from drinking with a clock over your head.
 
Early & uniform closing hours are a disaster. There'll be an initial period of messiness with late hours but the novelty will wear off and then people will go home in staggered times.

Also, it will lead to more sensible consumption instead of the stupidness you get from drinking with a clock over your head.
Complete deregulation is warranted in my opinion. Then younger people with newer ideas will be able to enter the industry and deliver an alternative to the very formulaic approach to the sale of alcohol with all pubs starting to look and feel the same.
 
Couldn’t agree more ,people don’t realise though that we have in fact de facto deregulation since the early nineties when licenses were allowed to be moved across parish boundaries ,pub licence now 40 k ,licence for a restaurant 10 k ,these are regarded as one of the lowest expenses in setting up a joint ,I suspect they will get cheaper . Planning and fire regulations are the real issues making it difficult to enter.on particular I don’t see the fire regs loosen up , Noise regulations are going to cancel out a lot of the good in the proposed time changes also I’m afraid ,but we need these changes if we are to compete with similar sized European Cities ,
 
Turning a licence to engage in a business activity into an asset that can be transferred or traded is counter productive as evidenced by the taxi licensing system prior to deregulation. Creating a market in licenses makes market entry difficult.
 
Correct ,but it’s one of the smaller expenses at the min ,it’s not really a bar to entry ,I’d love to see the licence requirement scrapped altogether but it’s other factors like the fire cert that quite literally make a great prospective premises literally unworkable and as you say actually make them all look the same ,very frustrating.
 
Will this mean that when I do my shopping early in the morning I can put a bottle or two of Alcohol in my trolley without the country going to rack and ruin?
 
Couldn’t agree more ,people don’t realise though that we have in fact de facto deregulation since the early nineties when licenses were allowed to be moved across parish boundaries ,pub licence now 40 k ,licence for a restaurant 10 k ,these are regarded as one of the lowest expenses in setting up a joint ,I suspect they will get cheaper . Planning and fire regulations are the real issues making it difficult to enter.on particular I don’t see the fire regs loosen up , Noise regulations are going to cancel out a lot of the good in the proposed time changes also I’m afraid ,but we need these changes if we are to compete with similar sized European Cities ,
The hammering that the hospitality industry has had from C-19 in the past 2 years will hopefully accelerate changes to European norms for both businesses and customers.

People with existing licences for sale etc will probably be looking for compensation you would think?

Planning and Fire Regs are here anyway and have to be adhered to but you would think that more larger existing adaptable buildings (Banks/Warehouses etc) would come into play especially on the quays etc away from established residential development and those with vision and deep pockets will prosper as the pace of change in Cork over the next 5 - 10 years will be just staggering.

Fock knows but liberalisation has to happen
 
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