It may take more than the existence of cafe-bars to change our drinks culture, writes Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent
The present system of licensing pubs gives publicans an incentive to maximise the size of their premises and maximise the amount of drink sold. That in turn can lead to excessive and binge drinking, and to health and public order problems.
So said the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, when presenting his new proposals for codification of the liquor-licensing legislation to journalists yesterday.
"It is my strong view that it is undesirable that dedicated drinking, in dedicated drinking establishments, should be the only form of social interaction in Ireland," he said.
He gave the example of young people out for an evening who would find it impossible to eat a pizza and drink a beer at the same time and in the same place.
The setting up of "cafe-bars", places where hot food and non-alcoholic beverages have to be available as well as beer, wine and spirits, is intended to provide just such an alternative to "dedicated drinking establishments."
The proposed Intoxicating Liquor (Codification) Bill will also repeal and replace some 100 pieces of legislation going back over 200 years.
Among the more outdated are the Dublin Justices Act of 1824, which prohibits several classes of people, including females, and anyone who "appears to have recently been drinking, tippling or gaming" from being on a premises selling liquor, during prohibited hours; and the Eucharistic Congress (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1932, which allowed for the sale of liquor on vessels moored in Dublin Bay, but only to bona- fide residents of those vessels.
Apart from codification of the notoriously confusing licensing laws, the main purpose of the Bill is to encourage the consumption of food with alcohol, and to discourage the development of "super-pubs". These have grown up out of the fact that the existing system required that a licence be "extinguished" before another was granted.
So the overall number of licensed premises was limited, and the growth in demand for alcohol was met by expanding premises.
Enter the "cafe-bar", which was recommended by the report of the Commission on Liquor Licensing. These would be required to provide food as well as alcohol and, according to the Minister, "could provide an atmosphere and ambience that encouraged moderate social consumption of alcohol".
They would be limited in size to 130sq metres, about that of an average three-bedroom house or bungalow.
It is anticipated, therefore, that some smaller pubs outside major population centres might opt to become "cafe-bars", selling their existing licence which could be worth a six-figure sum, and buying one of the new licences for €10,000 or €15,000.
Mr McDowell pointed to the example of Mediterranean countries, which have a cafe culture and which do not have the binge-drinking and alcohol-fuelled public order problems common here and in the UK.
However, the existence of "cafe-bars" in Ireland, assuming the idea takes off and they proliferate, may not end the binge-drinking culture now widespread among young people.
One of the features of Mediterranean countries in the summer is the large numbers of young Irish and British youth (not to mention other northern Europeans) who roam the streets clearly having consumed vast quantities of alcohol, ignoring the availability of food in the local cafe-bars.
Indeed, their habits have spawned the emergence of a new feature of Mediterranean resorts - Irish and British pubs which offer alcohol and very little else to their customers.
The question is, therefore: given the choice between a cosy, decorous cafe-bar, where the habitués sip at a glass of beer or wine as they nibble their pizza or pick at Spanish-style tapas, and the raucous thrills of a big, noisy, crowded pub with people losing inhibitions all around, which will the young people of Ireland, as presently disposed, choose?