Pub "happy hours" and entertainment during the 30 minutes drinking-up time will be banned from today under new liquor licensing laws.
Publicans will also be liable to fines if they sell alcohol to a drunken person or allow drunkenness in their bars.
They will also be prohibited from engaging in promotional practices likely to encourage people to consume alcohol to an excessive extent.
Happy hours will be a thing of the past as the ministerial order signed last week bans lower price sales of alcohol during a limited period on any day.
Licensees who sell alcohol to a drunken person or allow drunkenness on their premises will be fined €1,500 for a first offence and €2,000 for a second one. The law also stipulates that a person who is drunk on leaving licensed premises is presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been drunk while on the premises.
Drunken people who refuse to follow the instructions of a garda will be subject to a €300 fine for a first offence and €500 for a second one.
The order, signed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, brings almost all of the provisions of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003 into operation.
Further provisions, coming into operation on September 29th, amend the Equal Status Act to transfer jurisdiction in certain cases of alleged discrimination in pubs from the Equality Tribunal to the District Court. From the end of next month, closing time on Thursdays will revert to 11.30 p.m., and persons aged 18-20 years will be required to carry proof of age in a licensed premises. It will also be an offence for 15 to 17-year-olds to be in a licensed premises after 9 p.m., unless attending a private function at which a substantial meal is served.
The Vintners' Federation of Ireland, which represents 6,000 rural publicans, welcomed the broad thrust of the provisions when they were first published.
The VFI said it was pleased the Minister supported the call for a mandatory ID card system to help curb underage drinking as well as a ban on promotional practices likely to lead to excessive drinking.
It also welcomed the transfer of jurisdiction in cases of alleged discrimination in licensed premises from the Equality Tribunal to the District Court. The VFI said that in common with its sister organisation the Licensed Vintners' Association, it believed that the licensed trade has a responsibility to help tackle alcohol abuse.