Daft cafe bars

KILKENNY -- Straight-talking John McGuinness has described plans by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to introduce cafe bars as a "daft notion". Even in the laneways of charming Kilkenny, cafe bars with outdoor drinking would not work. That's why no publican in the southeast is clamoring for them.

Any weekend in Kilkenny it is easy to see the effects of late-night drinking on the pavement. Every fortnight, reports in the Kilkenny people document the perpetual occurrence of anti-social behaviour on the heels of late night pubs and clubs. The more accesible drinking becomes in Ireland, the worse people's behaviour becomes.

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Marie O'Halloran -- "Fianna Fáil TD critical of 'daft' cafe bars" in The IrishTimes, June 3, 2005.

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