Council rejects call for alcohol shop ban

THE Council has strongly rejected a motion by Cllr Michael Clarke to have alcohol removed from shops and supermarkets.

Cllr Clarke had also called for training for people to safely sell alcohol and to revitalise the traditional Irish pub industry.

The Dromore West publican said it was normalising alcohol to sell it beside milk and bread.

He congratulated Gardaí for opposing a recent application from 5th on Teeling to allow patrons bring their own beer on to the premises.

“I have never lost anybody through drink driving because I always left everybody home,” he said.

Cllr Seamus Kilgannon said “nobody knows for certain that removing alcohol from shops and petrol stations would remove the abuse of it.”

“If I go into a supermarket at 10 o’clock at night looking for a whiskey I won’t be sold it. I’ll be told it’s after hours,” he said. Cllr Keith Henry said supermarkets were “heavily policed” when selling alcohol, “unlike some other methods.”

“Prohibition didn’t work and this wouldn’t work,” he said.

Cllr Tom MacSharry said if the motion succeeded a lot of small businesses would close.

“What we need to do is look at the bigger issues and pump resources into detox units as the services involved are under funded and under staffed. That’s where the battle lies,” he said.

Cllr Dara Mulvey said Cllr Clarke’s “heart was in the right place” but he couldn’t agree with him.

Cllr Sinead Maguire said “you don’t see Spanish or French students falling around drunk. It’s about education.”

Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady said an Alcohol Strategy Forum had been put in place: “It’s all about societal change in the way we do our drinking,” she added. The motion was rejected by eight votes against to two for, with seven abstentions.