Closing Time....

In a controversial statement this week I called for a local review of pub closing times in Mayo. I made the call after a Garda report revealed that public order offences in Tralee Co. Kerry, have decreased “significantly” since a reduction in late night pub and club opening hours by a mere half an hour.

“In every town an village in this county, families have to endure the late night rowdiness of those that have drank to excess in bars and clubs every weekend. The impact of lengthening the amount of time that people can drink on in pubs can be seen in our A/E unit in Mayo General, in our Courtrooms, and indeed in our homes. Gardaí will tell you informally that the decision to allow late night drinking has had a dramatic effect of public order offences in Mayo and this is backed up by this recent report issued by the Garda Síochána in relation to Tralee, in Co. Kerry.

“Last October, a judge at Tralee District Court agreed to a Garda application to curtail serving times of late night pubs and clubs to 2 a.m. throughout Kerry. Gardaí had objected to applications at the annual licensing court for special exemptions to 2.30 a.m. in the belief that an earlier closing time would curtail violence and disturbance and assaults on gardaí on the streets.
“According to Garda figures, the first four months of the earlier closing time had seen a reduction in public order offences, which include disorderly conduct, intoxication in a public place, and abusive and insulting behaviour. From October to January, arrests for these types of offences were down by one third compared to the same period the previous year.

“As a public representative, I cannot ignore these figures, especially in the context of the number of calls that I receive from families in both rural and urban areas that have to bear the brunt of the shouting, car revving and vandalism being carried out late at night, right across the county.

“I am calling on the Garda authorities in Mayo to follow the same route as applied in the Kerry case. We have to deal with the reality of late night binge drinking and to the damage it is causing to the social fabric of our community. If we are serious about dealing with the abuse of alcohol and the human consequences of such abuse, we cannot, as a community, ignore the facts,” concluded Harry Barrett.
Ends: Harry Barrett…..087 9713268 see Irish Times, 14/3/07