Mr. Seamus Carroll
Civil Law Reform Division
Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform
Bishops Square
Redmond’s Hill
Dublin 2

Dear Seamus,

Thank you for your response dated 1 July 2008.

I would like to point out that Section 4 and Section 8 are linked by the very fact that they were both recommended by the Government Alcohol Advisory Group and are both contained in the same piece of legislation.

I would suggest that just as the Minister has discretion with Section 8 he has the same discretion with Section 4.

I would again suggest that it is only equitable to all members of the drinks retailing industry that both sections are signed in at the same time or to have Section 4 signed in simultaneously with the introduction of the Code of Practice.
Our members feel greatly let down by the Minister who would appear to be caving to big business interests at the expense of the small independent specialist retailers.

The mixed trader is generally closed at ten o’clock and is not affected by Section 4 and now will be allowed to continue to use alcohol to drive footfall into other areas of their stores. Our members need to trade after ten o’clock in order to survive economically and it was the changing buying patterns that segregation would bring that would have helped them compensate for these lost sales.

On a point of clarity regarding your last paragraph, are you stating that mixed traders who hold an off-licence will be obliged to close at ten o clock?

I would again ask you to bring our points to the urgent attention of the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform.

Yours sincerely,


JIM MC CABE
Chairman