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Questions raised by council's booze crackdown

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Doubts have been cast that Dublin City Council will be able to effectively enforce its new bye laws governing the consumption and sale of intoxicating liquor.
The city council is currently reviewing the Intoxicating Liquor Bye-Laws made under the Local Government Act 1994 in a bid to curb public disorder and eliminate underage drinking.
Some of the new proposals include increasing on the spot fines for breaking the new rules to e75. Another would give the gardaí the power to seize and confiscate alcohol being consumed in public places.
The new bye-laws would include beaches on the list of public places.
Cllr Críona Ní Dhalaigh (SF) has questioned whether the local authority has enough resources to enforce the new regulations.
“While I welcome the draft bye-laws I am concerned about our inability to enforce them,” she said. “I am concerned that without proper enforcement measures, these laws, which are designed to make our parks and open spaces safer for our communities will make little difference.”
One of Sinn Féin’s key demands in the party’s submission to the Garda Policing Plan 2008 was for more gardaí on foot and on bicycles patrolling anti-social behaviour hotspots and residential areas with greater frequency.
Cllr Ní Dhalaigh said the submission was based on extensive surveys carried out by Sinn Féin activists across Dublin, including the south inner city and Kilmainham and Inchicore.
She claimed that 95 per cent of those surveyed believed that fully-trained gardaí were preferable to Garda Reserve members and that more officers were needed on the beat.
“Drugs, drug dealing, public drunkenness and rowdiness, and threats and intimidation are the major elements of the anti-social behaviour which people complained about,” she said.
“The locations most identified with anti-social activity were pubic parks, laneways, stairwells, halls and balconies, shopping centres, street corners, pubs, chippers and open or green spaces,” she added.
“Of course, laws and bye-laws are important and necessary but without a change of attitude within our society to drinking in general and public places in particular all or any bye-laws or changes in those laws will not have the desired effect.”
A spokeswoman for the council said they were considering the councillor's concerns and how best to enforce the bye-laws.
“The enforcement of the Intoxicating Liquor Bye-Laws involves not just Dublin City Council but also the gardaí and the courts,” she said.
“The city council’s role is to administer the legislation and additional funding has been allocated in order to initiate legal proceedings in all cases where fines remain unpaid.”
The city council is currently considering the submissions made on the proposed bye-laws. The new regulations are due to come into force on September 1.

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