The purpose of this Bill is to clear the way for an extension of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court District to include the whole of Dublin county with the exception of the district electoral division of Rathmichael in the south county. This extension of the Dublin Metropolitan District was recommended by the Committee on Court Practice and Procedure in their Twelfth Interim Report and it is a necessary measure to ensure the efficient structuring of the District Court in the Dublin area.
The Bill does not propose to effect any substantive change in the liquor licensing laws. It is necessitated by the fact that, as the law stands, there is a possibility that an extension of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court District as proposed could have the effect of extending to Dublin county licensing provisions which at present are applicable in Dublin city, but not in Dublin county. This is so because there are sections in the Licensing Acts and in the Registration of Clubs Acts which provide that the Dublin Metropolitan District Court District shall be deemed to be a county borough for the purposes of the Licensing Acts and the Registration of Club Acts, while, more specifically, section 35 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1962, provides that, for the purposes of the Licensing Acts, the County Borough of Dublin shall be deemed to include the whole of the Dublin metropolitan district and such borough and district shall be deemed, for the purposes of those Acts, to be a city.
There are significant differences in the law relating to the sale of intoxicating liquor in its application to the County Borough of Dublin on the one hand and Dublin county on the other. For example, different conditions apply in relation to the granting of new licences in the borough and in the county. Another example is the afternoon closing from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. which applies in Dublin city but does not apply in Dublin county. Differences also apply in relation to the availability of exemptions for special events, general exemption orders and the opening of licensed premises on Sundays.
The legal position in regard to the "city" of Dublin — that is for the purposes of the Licensing Acts and the Registration of Clubs Acts — is that any extension of the county borough automatically extends the "city" but the effect of any extension, or indeed contraction, of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court District is not clear. I think it is reasonable that any area incorporated into the county borough should attract the "city" provisions of the Acts but there is no good reason why the application of those Acts should be affected by changes in the court district.
This Bill proposes, accordingly, to put the matter beyond all doubt by providing that any references in the Licensing Acts or the Registration of Clubs Acts to the Dublin Metropolitan District are references to that district as it was at the passing of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1962 and that the application of the Licensing Acts and the Registration of Clubs Acts is not affected by any change made in the Court District under the Courts Acts. In other words, the Bill proposes to maintain the status quo in relation to the operation of the Licensing Laws in Dublin city and county following the extension of the Dublin metropolitan district.
I commend the Bill to the House.