Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 June 2019
116. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the name of each venue that was granted a late licence in County Galway during 2018 and to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27114/19]
View answer117. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the name of each venue that was been granted a licence in County Galway during 2018 and to date in 2019 for hosting underage discos; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27115/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 117 together.
As the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, which include the provision of information on the courts system.
However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that there were 3,690 Special Exemption Orders granted in County Galway in 2018 and 1,538 to date in 2019.
The Courts Service has advised that the details of Licences are contained in the Register of Licences, which is available for inspection on the payment of the appropriate fee. The Courts Service has further advised that to extract the names of all of the people/venues which received Special Exemption Orders would involve a significant manual exercise requiring the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time.
The Courts Service has also informed me that it does not record the reasons for applications for Special Exemptions.
The Courts Service has indicated that in relation to "underage discos" it is unlikely that Special Exemption Orders would be sought since serving alcohol to those under 18 would be illegal.
