Vol. 404 No. 1
134 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice the reason it is not possible to have liquor licences transferred into the Dublin area; his views on whether this results in a disproportionate representation of licensed premises per head of population in Dublin against the remainder of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Licensing (Ireland) Act, 1902, as amended, established the criteria that have to be met by any person wishing to obtain what is known as a public house licence. The purpose of these criteria is to restrict the grant of new licences, mainly through the requirement in rural areas for two existing comparable licences to be extinguished in favour of one new licence and in urban areas for one such licence to be extinguished in favour of one new licence.
Any change in the statutory requirements for the grant of new liquor licences could be considered only following a fundamental review of the whole basis for the grant of these licences and I have no plans at present for such a review.
