asked the Minister for Justice if he will introduce legislation as soon as possible to curb the present undesirable practice of erecting hotels in residential, non-tourist areas for the prime purpose of securing liquor licences where such licences could not otherwise be obtained under the existing intoxicating liquor laws.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Liquor Licences.
30.
I do not accept that any such practice exists. May I remind the Deputy that, since the passing of the 1960 Act, it is a condition of the renewal of any licence granted to a hotel, as such, after that Act became law, that the hotel be registered in the Register of Hotels kept by Bord Fáilte Éireann. This requirement is in addition to the requirement that the premises must have set apart and reserved exclusively for guests at least ten bedrooms, or 20 in a county borough.
Is it not a fact that certain monied people, anxious to get licences, erect the number of rooms required and then get a licence? Quite a number of them are doing it.
Why should they not?
Cutting across the law.
They are not cutting across the law. Policy as enshrined in the particular piece of legislation clearly envisages that they should be entitled to a licence. Anybody who provides a hotel of the dimensions laid down is entitled to get an intoxicating liquor licence. That is the policy and I think it is quite right.
Is the erection of a hotel not subject to permission from the local authority and the Minister for Local Government under the planning and development Acts?
As Deputy Corish points out, the erection of a hotel is subject to town planning requirements and a variety of other statutory requirements, of one sort or another. Under the 1960 Act, and this is important, Bord Fáilte must be satisfied that the premises is a hotel in the full meaning of the word and, in order to do that, it must comply with the rules governing hotels.
These rooms are for guests.
They must be exclusively reserved for guests.