Former justice minister voices concern over new late-night licensing laws
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A former Fine Gael Justice Minister has added his voice to those concerned about proposed late-night licensing laws.
The reported earlier this week that the Road Safety Authority (RSA) had expressed concerns that a plan to allow nightclubs to open until 6am and pubs until 2.30am would lead to more road deaths, and Charlie Flanagan said he is concerned that the Government will try to "ram through" the legislation before the summer.
On Tuesday, this newspaper revealed that the chair of the RSA Board, Liz O’Donnell, has written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Justice Minister Helen McEntee, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, and junior minister Jack Chambers urging them to stop progressing the legislation on late-night openings.
Mr Flanagan, who resisted the idea when he held the office now occupied by his party colleague Helen McEntee, said he wants the bill's impacts better understood.
"My concern is that it will be attempted to ram it through. We're into possibly the last few months of this government and there may be a temptation for government to increase its scorecard over the last few months. I'm concerned on public order - guards are concerned about the impacts and I want to be satisfied on additional resources and redeployment. I share fully the concerns of Liz O'Donnell.
"There has to be impact assessments, pre-legislative scrutiny and reviews of other jurisdictions as well as analysis of hospital impact. There has to be additional resources for policing and public transport. We can't take shortcuts with this."
Mr Flanagan said he believes the piece of legislation that will make regular trading hours for pubs 10.30am to 12.30am seven days a week, as well as allowing nightclubs to remain open until 6am, is at odds with previous Fine Gael moves around the sale of alcohol.
"Simon Harris was something of a zealot and I'm not sure how this aligns with the moves he made in the Public Health Act in 2018, which ended with alcohol being behind gates in shops. It's a complete shift from his time in Health."
Mr Varadkar said as far back as 2019 that Irish licensing laws in this area are “archaic” and Fine Gael would reform them. Sources say the Taoiseach is "pushing" the idea at government level.
Last week he said that despite “pressing” Justice Minister Helen McEntee to progress the laws, it has not yet happened.
Mr Varadkar said: “I don’t know if it’ll be done by the summer. It’s something I’ve been pressing Minister McEntee to make progress on."