asked the Minister for Justice whether, in putting into operation Part IV of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927, special consideration will be given to the cases of those licensed traders who voluntarily surrender their licences at the next Annual Licensing Sessions, and whether the Gárda Síochána will be instructed accordingly.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - PUBLICANS' VOLUNTARILY SURRENDERED LICENCES.
All proceedings under the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927, for the extinction of licences on compensation will be initiated by the Gárda Síochána and the statutory grounds for the abolition of a licence are:—
(a) that the volume of business transacted in the premises to which the licence is attached is small;
(b) that the structural condition and state of repair of the said premises is bad;
(c) that the accommodation in the said premises for customers is unsatisfactory in character or extent;
(d) that the business carried on in the said premises is not properly conducted;
(e) that the situation of the said premises is such as to render supervision thereof by the police difficult.
The desire of a licence holder to have his licence abolished is not one of the statutory grounds and voluntary surrender of a licence would not entitle the licence holder to compensation. If a case for abolition in any particular case can be made under the Act, the lack of opposition to abolition on the part of the licence holder will be helpful and I am prepared to instruct the police to start the process of abolition of redundant licences by bringing forward as far as possible those cases in which the licence holders do not object to having their licences abolished.