I ask the Seanad to give this Bill, which is entitled the Intoxicating Liquor (Occasional Licences) Bill, 1932, a Second Reading. The purpose of the Bill is to extend the statutory powers vested in a District Justice to grant what is known as an occasional licence. An occasional licence was first introduced into law by a Statute of 1862. Since then, at different times, down to 1927, when this Parliament passed the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927, several slight amendments have been made in the law regulating the granting of an occasional licence. So far as present purposes require, I may summarise the effects of all the Statutes and deal with the Statute of 1927, by which an occasional licence may be granted by a District Justice to any holder of a spirit or wine or beer licence for a period of three days for use at premises other than his ordinary premises. It is usually availed of at sports meetings and shows, and one great instance is the great Horse Show held in Dublin each year. The occasional licences are granted for the purpose of serving the needs of the public attending these shows. Under the existing Statute an occasional licence may be granted for a period not exceeding three days and there is no power to grant an occasional licence in respect of a Sunday. That is all that really matters in regard to the law and practice under the existing Statutes.
It is intended this year to hold an exhibition or fair in or near the City of Cork—someone told me that it may be about one mile from Cork City proper. That fair or exhibition will continue from the 11th of the present month to the end of October. It is an undertaking of some magnitude. It is not to be compared with the ordinary provincial show. It will be run on a much more ambitious scale in every way and the Committee who have organised it, representative of the various interests in the City and County of Cork, felt that in order to cater for the reasonable needs of the public, facilities should be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquor at bars in this fair or exhibition of the kind similar to the facilities that are available in the licensed hotels in the County Borough of Cork at the present time, and that special legislation to enable that to be effected should be introduced. Every party to the proposal, representative of Cumann na nGaedheal, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party from Cork, seems to be united in advocating this as a public need. When I was approached with regard to it I felt that the ordinary occasional licences would sufficiently serve the need of this fair or exhibition. The first objection that was made to that scheme of mine was that the occasional licence could be granted only for three days, and would have to be renewed frequently. I argued with the promoters that such a state of things might have its advantages and would mean recurring supervision on the part of the police authorities, and that the expense of applying for the renewal of the occasional licence at intervals of three days would not be very great. However, the great volume of opinion seems to be that it would be rather clumsy to force the organisers and controllers of this fair to go to the District Justice every three days, as they would have to do under the existing Statutes, and there is no way out of that but to introduce special legislation.
It was also represented to me that facilities were desirable for Sundays. Again there seem to be forcible reasons on the part of the Cork representatives as regards that, but if the facilities are to be extended on Sundays there is no power to extend them under the existing legislation. The existing Statutes do not contemplate the granting of an occasional licence for Sunday and, that being the position, I felt that as there was such a volume of opinion in favour of this Bill, and as this exhibition or show seems to be on such an enormously large scale, it was only right that I should promote this Bill. Accordingly, the Bill has been prepared and, as the House will observe, it takes the existing occasional licence as a basis, so to speak. The Bill alters the law by enabling the licence to be granted for a period not exceeding three months. In Sub-Clause (a), Clause 2, power is taken to grant the licence for a period not exceeding three months. The period of three days is extended to three months. When the Second Reading was before the other House objection was taken by several Deputies as to why that period should be for three months, and not for the entire period of the fair, and similar objections may arise in the minds of some of the Senators. The answer I gave in the Dáil was that I feel that it would be well after a period of three months that the police authorities should have an opportunity of reviewing the whole situation again. The expense of applying for a licence like this is negligible. All that has to be done is that 48 hours' notice must be given to the police and the application must be heard by the District Justice. The whole procedure is just a formal one, and I do not think any great hardship will be put on the caterers by having to apply for a renewal after three months. Sub-paragraph (b) is really of no importance. It tends towards the smooth working so that an application for renewal may not be made until the occasional licence expires. They can apply again pending the expiration of the existing licence for a new licence, to take effect from the date of expiry of the old one. Sub-paragraph (c) also changes the law, but again it is formal in its nature. The site of this show is outside the administrative boundary of the Borough of Cork, but it is within the licensing area of the District Justice for the County Borough of Cork, and to obviate any trouble or difficulty or doubt in the mind of the District Justice, I thought it well to have an express ruling made that the site of the fair is for the purposes of the application within the County Borough and there is no doubt as to which District Justice is to go there. Sub-paragraph (d) is a substantial alteration of the law, because it provides that the licence may be granted for a Sunday. Sub-paragraph (e) is also a change because it provides the police with the power of revocation, so to speak. It gives the District Justice the power of revocation at the instance of the police. I felt that owing to the facilities granted under the Bill being so extensive that it would be well if the police should have power to approach the District Justice to revoke the licence. That is practically the whole position, and I now ask the House to give the Bill a Second Reading.
