Draft legislation to extend pub opening hours by 30 minutes will be examined by the Cabinet "in the next couple of weeks", the Department of Justice has confirmed.
The draft legislation, which is currently being finalised by the Department, will allow pubs to serve drinks to customers up to midnight in summer and until 11.30 p.m. during the winter season. Half an hour of "drinking up time" would be allowed in both seasons.
The draft legislation also allows for special exemptions from the licensing laws on days other than Friday and Sunday, the two days on which most exemptions are now granted. A "holy hour" on Sunday will no longer be required. From next year publicans will be allowed to open until 12.30 a.m. on New Year's Eve.
No special exemptions will be granted to night clubs beyond 2 a.m., which the Department says will still be "the outer limit to when drinks can be served". However, night clubs will no longer be required to serve a meal to fulfil licensing requirements under the new legislation.
The regulations are expected to be in operation by the summer. A national identity card scheme to combat teenage drinking will be introduced before the start of the new opening hours, a spokesman for the Department said.
The Labour Party yesterday described the proposed reforms as "nothing more than a pathetic and timid tinkering with the status quo when real reform is needed".
The party's justice spokesman, Dr Pat Upton, said the Minister should realise "that thousands of pubs are now serving drink well after midnight throughout the year, and the new legislation will only be acceptable to the public as long as it is not enforced.
"There is adequate evidence available from other countries which have liberalised their licensing laws that it does not lead to an increased abuse of alcohol," he said.
A spokesman for the Department said the legislation featured a balanced package of measures which took account of the public demand for change and concerns about the role played by alcohol in public order problems and driving fatalities.
Mr John Mansworth, of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, welcomed the proposed changes in opening hours as a response to a market need.
