Drink outside, everyone! Oops – might be illegal

 Think it through

 

 In many work situations, as in the non-work arena we call “life”, it’s important to look at a problem from the four points of the compass. The best way to make a change is not to charge, full steam ahead, with one simple idea. Annoyingly, there are many facets to most events, just as there are to people.

 

This simple-minded enthusiasm was demonstrated by the Irish government’s declaration that outdoor dining would be allowed, post-harsh-lockdown, from June 7 2021. Cue hundreds if not thousands of businesses buying lightweight chairs and tables, marquee canvas roofs, all-weather pods, and migrating their offering on to the street. It’s been a very positive development, bringing that sort of liveliness and spirit we think of as “Continental” all over the country. (And former Justice Minister and barrister, Michael McDowell, tried without success to introduce in the early noughties.)

 

Luckily the weather has been good too, so cowed and cooped-up citizens who daren’t cross their threshold a short while ago are now outside dining, quaffing and quipping with friends. Except the Garda Síochana in Galway spoilt the party by murmuring that all this outdoor consumption of alcohol was not actually legal. Licences to serve alcohol are mostly held by premises, with no specific permission for consumption to occur on the street and public space outside. Now cue panic.

 

Into the squealing came the calm presence of Constance Cassidy, who is Ireland’s go-to lawyer regarding licensing. She very firmly told RTE radio that it’s up to local authorities, and their bye-laws, whether or not al fresco drinking is permitted. Otherwise, there is nothing in the licensing laws to ban people from having their drinks outside. In Galway, it seems there is such a killjoy regulation, despite the astonishment of people up and down the country who have enjoyed a pint many a day in the gentle Galwegian atmosphere (for which you can read: rain). 

The controversy is still ongoing at time of writing, although the current Justice Minister’s delicate comment that “Gardaí will use their discretion” in policing outdoor drinking sounded like a wink and a nod, to this horse anyway.

 

So what do we learn, apart from people love to drink? It seems that nobody actually checked this rather important point when the great push onto the pavement was sanctioned by the government and local councils. If a temporary order were needed to facilitate the new practice, it could have been made.

 

Whatever your role, when someone says “let’s do this!”, there is probably more than one aspect to the situation. Maybe all aspects are positive. That’s the nirvana situation and tends to be rare. Think of the user, the reader, or the person who is going to pick holes. What conditions need to be in place for this innovation to happen? Who might sue - or arrest you? When that stress-testing is done, proceed.

 

 

 

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