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[quote:y2sr32z3]Dublin City Council is considering closing off-licences in the city centre at 8pm in response to incidents involving alcohol and public disorder. The proposal - to limit off-licence opening times to between 10am and 8pm - is one of a number contained in a report by the Council’s Joint Policing Committee which aims to put restrictions on the capital’s pubs, clubs and off-licences.[/quote:y2sr32z3]
Full story.[/url:y2sr32z3]

I do hope this is too utterly batshit to actually implement. And I also hope the residents of Dublin city centre point this out.

"Sorry, Senator Norris, no wine after 8."

"The limitation in number, for instance, of beer and spirit-houses, for the express purpose of rendering them more difficult of access, and diminishing the occasions of temptation, not only exposes all to an inconvenience because there are some by whom the facility would be abused, but is suited only to a state of society in which the laboring classes are avowedly treated as children or savages"
by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty

On my recent holiday in Norway I wandered into the nearest local store to buy a couple of beers around 7pm.I was told by a very apologetic checkout woman that they are not allowed to sell alcohol after 6pm on Saturday night. <!-- s:oops: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt="" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: -->
We must be the laughing stock of Europe she added while continuing to apologise profusely.

looks like there are other jokers out there <!-- s:evil: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_evil.gif" alt="" title="Evil or Very Mad" /><!-- s:evil: -->

I get the feeling that the 8pm closing of offies is aimed at one very small section of society, namely those you see begging till they scrape together enough for another can.

Did you see the other proposals?
"power to limit the number of off-licences" 'cos if you have to walk an extra 5 minutes to get your cans you'll drink less.

"ban on selling under-21s spirits as well as limiting the amount of alcohol that can be sold to them" Does Dublin City Council even have the Authority to do this? Do they think people won't find ways around it?

And this is how they see it being implemented: "ID Cards would become mandatory for Dublin off-licences (with sales history linked to this card)." ID cards for all of us? With sales history for all of us? Why? Do they plan to ration us all next?

"off-licences would also be expected to keep CCTV records of all sales for one month open to inspection by the Gardaí." Ok, I could see this as a deterrent to dodgy offie owners selling booze to those under-age, but there are ways around it.

Like I say: hilariously batshit.

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:15ap9fq0 wrote: I get the feeling that the 8pm closing of offies is aimed at one very small section of society, namely those you see begging till they scrape together enough for another can.[/quote:15ap9fq0]Quite possibly. But it'd be fun to see Berry Bros. & Rudd or Mitchell's of Kildare Street being busted for selling a bottle of Amarone at 8.05pm.

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:15ap9fq0 wrote: Did you see the other proposals?[/quote:15ap9fq0]No. Have you a link?

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:15ap9fq0 wrote: "power to limit the number of off-licences" 'cos if you have to walk an extra 5 minutes to get your cans you'll drink less.[/quote:15ap9fq0]And don't forget, you'll probably pass the doors of a good alcohol vendor on the way. Go inside and all will be well. Dara Ó Briain said so.

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:15ap9fq0 wrote: "ban on selling under-21s spirits as well as limiting the amount of alcohol that can be sold to them" Does Dublin City Council even have the Authority to do this?[/quote:15ap9fq0]Nope. Let's overturn some of the best equality laws in the world to ensure that 20-year-olds get someone else to buy their vodka.

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:15ap9fq0 wrote: With sales history for all of us?[/quote:15ap9fq0]I love this. Because we really need another big expensive public service computing project. PPARS, e-voting, and the Great Dutch-Gold-O-Meter. We could hook up a data feed from our own accounts to our sigs...

Oh and I missed the best one: “restricting the opening hours of fast-food outlets and convenience stores to match pub/club closing hours to discourage loitering” Cos if you do that, everyone will go home top bed like good little kiddies, right? WTF? There would be murder in every chipper as the try to kick out hungry drunks! And the rest of us are supposed to do without our late night shops, just because Dublin City Council think it would “discourage loitering”.

Notice how they are specifying fast food outlets? They want the proles to go home to bed while they can have a nice late night meal and a bottle of Pinot Grigio in a restaurant if they like.