This Bill includes a number of tough measures. It specifically targets the problem of drugs in places such as dance halls, pubs and other licensed premises as well as unlicensed places of public resort. In so doing it will help protect the health, safety and, ultimately, the future of our young population. It will particularly help those who are vulnerable to the latest fad and those easily influenced by peer pressure. We, as legislators, should do all we can to prevent the lives of our youth from being blighted by drugs, including the so called recreational and designer drugs.
Among the Bill's tough measures are ones aimed at preventing or disqualifying persons involved in the drugs trade from promoting dances or other entertainments or holding intoxicating liquor licences. These measures should go a long way towards ensuring that dance halls, pubs and other places of entertainment will be drug-free social environments.
This Bill is part of a programme of legislation to tackle drug abuse. It remains my view that a successful assault on the drugs trade must come from many sides. This Bill is another facet of a multifaceted approach. The Government is determined to use every means at their disposal to take on this vile trade which has destroyed so many lives and threatens so many others.
Before turning to the details of the Bill it should be remembered that it is essentially an anti-drugs measure. It aims to deal with the drug problem as it impinges on various places of public resort. It adopts a practical approach in that it uses the appropriate licensing laws as a further means of cracking down on those involved in the drug trade. The Bill is not about tightening or updating the law in relation to drugs offences, dance halls, public houses and other entertainment venues; it is principally concerned with bringing together the relevant elements of the laws governing those areas and changing them where necessary with a view to combating drug abuse in licensed places and at unlicensed dances.
The licensing provisions to which I am referring are of three types. The type with which most people are familiar is the liquor licensing code and I do not think I need to go into detail in relation to that code here. Also familiar are the arrangements that apply to dance halls. The relevant legislation is the Public Dance Halls Act, 1935, which includes various procedural and regulatory provisions in relation to public dance licences.
The Bill tackles three main problems. Firstly, it deals with drug abuse in dance halls and other entertainment venues. Secondly, it deals with drug abuse in public houses and other places licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor. Thirdly, it gives the Garda greater powers to deal with unlicensed dances such as raves which almost inevitably involve drug abuse. I am not claiming that there is widespread drug abuse in those places, apart from the raves, but what abuse takes place in them can have serious consequences and a very effective way of defeating the problem is through the licensing system.
The Bill deals with drug abuse in dance halls, other places of entertainment and public houses in three ways. First of all, under section 2, any person who has been convicted of a drug trafficking offence will be prevented from ever holding any intoxicating liquor licence, any public dancing licence or any public music and singing licence. Clearly, such persons would be regarded as being unfit by reason of character from holding any such licence and this Bill will ensure that their involvement in any of the trades requiring such a licence is barred to them. This provision will, in other words, ensure that undesirable elements are kept out of the relevant licensed businesses.
Sections 3 and 17 deal with the revocation or forfeiture of licences held by persons who, as licence holders, have been convicted of a drug trafficking offence or an offence under section 19(1)(g) of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977. Drug trafficking offences are set out in the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, and include offences such as the manufacture, production, preparation, importation, exportation, supply, distribution or transportation of a controlled drug.
Section 19(1)(g) of the 1977 Act makes it an offence for a person to knowingly permit or suffer the sale, supply or distribution of a controlled drug on any land, and that includes buildings which he or she controls or manages. In the case of a public dancing or public music and singing licence the Garda Síochána can, under the Bill's provisions, apply to the court to have the licence immediately revoked and, unless the judge is of the opinion that there is good reason for not revoking the licence, it will be immediately revoked and the person concerned disqualified forever from holding such a licence.
The premises to which the licence attached would also be prohibited from ever again having such a licence attached to it. Provision is, however, made for the owner of such a premises to apply to the court to have the premises again licensed. In such a case the owner must not have been the holder of the licence and he or she must satisfy the court that he or she did not know and had no reason to suspect that the licence holder would be involved with drugs. This will ensure fairness in cases where, for example, a person may have leased out a premises to another person in good faith for the purpose of holding dances. In the case of an intoxicating liquor licence the licence will be forfeited rather than revoked, but it amounts to the same thing.
Sections 4 and 18 bring the process a stage further and are, arguably, the most important in the Bill. They deal with the situation where the court is satisfied that the licence holder permitted the use of the premises in respect of which the licence was granted for the sale, supply or distribution of a controlled drug, or did not exercise reasonable control over the place to prevent such sale, supply or distribution. In such circumstances the judge can order that the licence be immediately revoked in the case of a public dancing licence or a public music and singing licence, or suspended in the case of an intoxicating liquor licence.
The revocation or suspension would be for five years. Here we are dealing with persons who have not necessarily themselves been convicted of any drugs offence but who are running dances or other entertainments in, or hold intoxicating liquor licences for, premises where drug abuse is known to be taking place.
Section 21 is an important provision which is concerned with persons who have been disqualified from holding a licence under the provisions of this Bill. There is always the danger that a person so disqualified will try, through another person or a company, to continue to benefit from the operation of a licence. This section will prevent that in two ways. First, a disqualified person will be prevented by reason of any understanding, arrangement or direction with or to another person to enjoy or be entitled to any profit or gain from the operation of a licence. This could happen, for example, where such a person sets up another person as a licence holder and creams off a percentage of the profits from the operation of that licence. Such a person would not necessarily be controlling or conducting the activities under the licence but would simply be taking a share of the profits.
Second, section 21 deals with the person who actually controls or conducts the activities under these licences that are held by another person or body corporate. Such a person could, for example, establish a company to run the licensed business of which he or she would not be a director. However, he or she could be what is known in company law as a "shadow director" and such a person is also disqualified from being a shadow licence holder under the provisions of this section.
Sections 5 to 11, inclusive, amend relevant aspects of the Dance Halls Act, 1935, and the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, under which the public music and singing licence is granted. The 1935 Act contains comprehensive safeguards dealing with the grant of a public dancing licence. For example, section 2 of that Act lists the matters to which a judge must give consideration before granting a public dancing licence. Section 6 of this Bill adds a further consideration; that is, that arrangements, where appropriate, have been made to ensure that persons entering or making use of the dance hall are not in possession of any controlled drug and that the place will not be used for the sale, supply or distribution of any controlled drug.
Under section 4 of the 1935 Act the court, when granting a public dancing licence, may insert such conditions and restrictions as the judge thinks proper. Section 7 of this Bill obliges the judge, where appropriate, to insert a condition in the licence that the person to whom it is being granted makes all reasonable arrangements to ensure that persons entering or making use of the place are not in possession of any controlled drug and that the place is not used for the sale, supply or distribution of any controlled drug.
Section 5 of the Bill amends the definition of "place" in the 1935 Act; that is, a place for which a public dancing licence can be granted. At present, a licence would not be required for a dance held in an unenclosed place out-of-doors. It would not have been envisaged in 1935 that commercial dances could be held in remote unenclosed places or on places like beaches or islands. However, it is a feature of the so-called rave culture that payment is made in advance and the location is kept secret until the last minute. Such dances do not at present require a licence because they are held in unenclosed places. The amendment to the definition of "place" will remedy that situation and the importance of that amendment will become even more clear when I refer to the new Garda powers under sections 12 and 13 of the Bill.
The measures I have outlined so far are comprehensive and tough and they are meant to be. They deal in general with premises that are licensed. Sections 12 to 16 are equally tough and comprehensive but in this case they deal with what are described in the Bill as "unlicensed dances". For the purposes of this Bill an unlicensed dance is defined in section 1. The main feature of the definition is that a dance must be one which a member of the Garda Síochána of at least superintendent rank has a reasonable belief will be an occasion for the sale, supply or distribution of a controlled drug. In other words, these provisions are drugs-focused and cannot be used for any other reason. Section 12 allows the Garda to direct persons who are preparing for the holding of an unlicensed dance to leave the place where the dance is to take place and to bring any sound equipment or other property with them. Once such a dance has started the Garda can direct the persons who organised the dance or prepared it, or are using the sound equipment at it, to similarly leave the place, bringing their sound equipment or other property with them. This would have the effect of bringing the dance to a halt.
Section 13 gives the Garda power to stop a person proceeding in the direction of an unlicensed dance. This power can only be used within two miles of where the unlicensed dance is taking place, or is due to take place, unless it is due to take place on one of the offshore islands, in which case there is no distance restriction. Once such a dance has commenced on an island it would be almost impossible for the Garda to deal with it; therefore, it is important that the Garda have the power to stop persons on the mainland from actually going out to the island. I must emphasise, once again, that these powers can only be used where the Garda has a reasonable belief that drug abuse will take place at the dance.
Section 14 gives the Garda power to enter any place which is being used for public dancing without a licence or at any other time to make any inspection, examination or inquiry thought proper for the prevention or detection of a drug trafficking offence or for the giving of a direction under section 12. This provision will plug a gap in the law relating to Garda powers of entry to places where dances are held. At present, gardaí only have this power in relation to a premises to which a public dancing licence applies.
Section 15 deals with the powers of the court to forfeit sound equipment that has been seized by the Garda Síochána from a person at an unlicensed dance and section 16 deals with the retention of seized sound equipment.
Section 19 is a technical provision that provides a mechanism whereby a person whose licence has been suspended under section 18 can apply to the Revenue Commissioners to have the licence renewed. The earliest this application can be made would coincide with the annual licensing sessions of the fourth year following the suspension.
Section 20 provides for an appeal to the Circuit Court against the forfeiture or suspension of an intoxicating liquor licence under the provisions of this Bill. It also includes an appeal procedure for the owner of a premises who has unsuccessfully applied to the court under section 17 or 18 to have the ban on the licensing of his or her premises lifted. Section 8 provides for similar appeals in the case of public dancing licences and public music and singing licences.
There is no constitutional right to a licence or to a renewal of a licence. There are only such rights as are given by statute subject to the limitations and conditions prescribed by statute. A person applying for a licence knows or ought to know that it can be forfeited or revoked in certain circumstances. When these circumstances occur, the licence holder cannot really complain. Every licence holder will now know exactly what the legislators and the people think of persons who allow, connive at, or turn a blind eye to drug abuse on their premises. Licence holders who step out of line deserve no sympathy and if, as a result of their activities or negligence, they lose their licence, they have only themselves to blame. This may seem a harsh judgment but we have a duty to protect our young persons from being exposed to the sale or supply of illegal drugs in situations where it is quite often difficult for them to say "No".
The Bill will afford that protection. It will allow everyone, young and old, but particularly the young, to enjoy a night's dancing in a drug-free environment and will provide a further measure aimed at putting the drug barons and peddlers of drugs out of business. I am pleased to commend the Bill to the House.