The prohibition of children under 18 years of age when accompanied by their parents to enjoy a meal or entertainment in the bar area of hotels will relay a negative image of Ireland not being child friendly, the Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation said on the introduction of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill today. The IHF suggests that this is just one of a number of detrimental measures in the Bill that will ultimately damage Ireland's unique image abroad of offering a warm welcome and excellent hospitality. It is conservatively estimated that over 2 million family holidaymakers in Ireland (including over 600,000 overseas visitors) will be affected by these provisions.

John Power, CEO maintains that the Intoxicating Liquor Bill, if introduced, will reverse the years of investment and hard work to position the country as being a welcoming and hospitable country to visit. While the IHF admires Minister McDowell's commitment to curbing under-age drinking, it believes it should not be done at the expense of the Irish tourism industry. It fears that such provisions would result in Ireland losing its 'family friendly' image. In particular, two provisions of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill run completely contrary to the core quality of the Irish tourism product of Irish hospitality being a welcoming relaxed experience. Mr Power highlights:

• The requirement that everybody under the age of 21 years (unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian) carry valid evidence of age while in the bar area of a hotel or licensed premises is a highly negative imposition for overseas visitors. Considering many guests staying in hotels, consider it 'a home from home' it will be very difficult for the owner of a premises to enforce this provision. The licence holder being held responsible for allowing such a person in the bar area of his or her premises, without the evidence of age is inequitable.
  
  
• To ban children under the age of 18 after 8.00pm, from having a meal or enjoying entertainment in the bar areas of hotels even when accompanied by their parents or guardians could be a major detractor to a family enjoying a holiday break.

The IHF stresses that the mandatory imposition of a temporary closure order for breaches of these provisions, of not more than 7 days for the first offence and not less than 7 days or more than 30 days in respect of second or subsequent offence is an unreasonable penalty for a license holder.

"A lot of hotel bars offer a full food service and many families enjoy evening entertainment provided in the bars in the evening, which would make the enforcement of this provision entirely impractical. It is ridiculous that Ireland is going down this road when the vast majority of other EU countries welcome children with parents on their premises. Ireland will simply not become a destination of choice to families considering holidaying here if they believe they won't have the freedom to eat or experience evening entertainment as a family," says John Power.

"These two provisions are unreasonable and excessive, particularly where it applies to visitors from jurisdictions which do not have mandatory identity cards such as Britain and Northern Ireland. It is virtually impossible to verify that everybody under the age of 21 in a bar carries such evidence, particularly should a large crowd of young people be on the premises perhaps while being in the locality for a major sporting, cultural or concert event," says John Power.

"A relaxed pace of life with little bureaucracy is a very important attraction to tourists of the Irish way of life. These regulations fly in the face of that attraction and if implemented could cause long-term damage to Ireland's tourism industry which employs over 150,000 people throughout the country," continues John Power.

Mr Power concluded by stating that only last month the Tourism Policy Review Group's Interim report stated the fact that the economic and social contribution of the Irish tourism industry is seriously under valued at national and government levels.

It recommended that all Government Departments needed to acknowledge the importance of tourism to the State in decisions they make. "This Bill", concludes John Power "goes directly against that advice".

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Siobhan Molloy/Niamh Boylan Tel: (01) 676 01 68
Weber Shandwick FCC (086) 817 50 66 or (086) 3809191