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The Daily PollA MOTION CALLING for the closure of the Dáil bar has been proposed by a member of Kerry Vintners’ Federation who hopes it will go before a national congress.
Sean O’Mahoney, who owns a pub in Killarney brought the proposal before the local grouping and said it was inappropriate for members of the Dáil to be seen consuming alcohol at their place of work.
He said that the taxpayer should not be footing the bill for the subsidised alcohol prices. However it is understood that the Dáil bar does not have subsidised alcohol prices.
So, today we want to know: Should the Dáil bar be closed down?
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Go to the pub and pay normal prices like everyone else. They get paid enough… contribute to the economy…
@Michael Bodycoach: nothing to do with the cost – there should not be a pub in work.
@Gulliver Foyle: everything to do with cost, if it was just about the pub being at work no one would really care
@Michael Bodycoach: these guys get bought free food and drink everywhere they go – that’s why they leave big tabs behind. it’s purely about have a “one pint” (Healy Rae term for five or six) and voting on things that affect peoples lives.
@Gulliver Foyle: I voted yes. Now you have made me think again.
@Michael Bodycoach: comment of the week.i couldn’t agree more.
@Michael Bodycoach: if the vintners want to shut them down then all they have to do is lodge a complaint that the tab system is in breach of s(8) of the intoxicating liquor act which prohibits the sale of alcohol on credit.
@Michael Bodycoach: “However it is understood that the Dáil bar does not have subsidised alcohol prices.” so what is your objection again?
@Marie Broomfield: understood, not proven, of course they don’t want to tell everyone it’s subsidised… it’s always been subsidised and they have tabs that they don’t pay either. So that’s my point…
@Dara O’Brien:
Incorrect
Hotels sell Alcohol on credit when you put it to your room
Restaurants sell alcohol on credit when you have a meal
Retailers sell alcohol on credit when you put it on your CC
Test case SI4746475
@Mark Walsh: Not my understanding at all and a search for the test case shows no results – I’d be interested in the details if you could provide though?
Re restaurants, ss2 of the bill allows for drinks ordered with meals to be paid later.
Re CC, consideration is deemed to have taken place when the card is presented – once you have given value to the seller, this is deemed ‘payment’
Re holes rooms – pre-authorization on the cc is treated as above.
@Marie Broomfield: it may not be subsidised but it is sold on credit – which is against the licencing act ! allowing anyone to ‘run up a tab’ or put drinks ‘on the slate’ is in breach of licencing law .
@Mark Walsh: restaurants and hotels are exempt from that part of the act as the drinks will for a part of the final bill ,which will be settled on leaving the premises . as for credit cards the payment is made to the vendor immediately you swipe or enter your pin — the ‘credit’ part applies to the card holder -not the payment .
@Michael Bodycoach: yes, the pub down the road from Thier workplace, oh and definitely not during working hours.
@Michael Bodycoach: I bet they drive home.
@Larry Doherty: And can’t be stopped by Garda. What a fecking joke we are
Do we really need a poll for this? A bar is not necessary in any place of employment except if you work in hospitality. Politicians are most definitely having a laugh here. Literally…!!!
@2thFairy: except many modern offices have them
@joe: have a bar? Seriously? BS. SOME have a drinks fridge where the unwritten rule is that you have ONE on a Friday evening but that’s fast going out of fashion.
@DaisyMay: In the tech industry, at least, there are small bars in some offices. Typically one or two taps (there will also be beer fridges)
@James Gallagher: Exactly. My mate worked in Intercom in town and they had a small bar with taps and a fridge with beers in it. There’s also guys in there on much higher wages than any politician.
@James Gallagher: Ah, now I know why tech support in the tech industry tends to be rubbish
@DaisyMay: I know an IT company that has a fully equipped pub inside their office.
@James Gallagher: Definitely should not be alcohol during working hours.. in any workplace. The limit now is barely a have glass of wine if even that. These workers ( Government ) are breaking the law when they drive out the gates of employment.. Has there Ever been a Gardai checkpoint outside Any Gov. building. Wish there was, it would tell a tale. A law they brought in for the people, they are no different from me or you, ,
if I went to work with drink in me I be sacked, the bar is a symbol of how little they care about the people when the important decisions are made.
Yes, they talk enough s, without adding drink to their waffle.
Should have closed years ago especially after the night of the bank guarantee. TDs half pissed laughing and joking at a time of such importance was an absolute disgrace. Close it down.
@Luke Lee:
Not to mention lap gate and that some of them weren’t even paying for their pints..
Why should my tax subsidise their drinks?? I’d never buy any of them a pint if I had a choice.
Spending over 7 grand on drink in that bar after passing the water services bill shows that it should be closed down. They barely have brains to begin with, let alone while on the lash making decisions that made the country stand up against them.
@Paul Cunningham: Does nt say much for the people who vote for them.
And remind the public of the TDs who left unpaid bar bills before they close it for good
I’ve no problem with them having a drink and paying for it at the end of their day. But no way should they be allowed drink alcohol during their working day on lunch breaks then go into meetings, make decisions or hold votes etc.
Absolutely.
Subsidized gargle for them and minimum pricing for the rest of us.
In every other occupation I’m aware off its a dismissal if one drinks in work or even brings alcohol onto site close the bar down immediately
38 no votes must be TDs
If things are to change, at a minimum the Dáil bar shouldn’t be subsidised
@HotPotato: 100%. They are happy to hike up the price of a pint for the average person but they get a subsidised pint at our expense
Close it quick before Lord Ross goes back on the beer
It most certainly should be closed down. They have a bar and a gym what’s next a swimming pool, a spa? The Dáil is a place of work not a five star hotel.
They should turn the bar into a euthanasia clinic, and sure half of them could use it.
Tea, coffees only and a simple aul salad, maybe a bit of beetroot and scallions
Is the dail bar still in operation? Thought it was closed years ago due to them donkeys in the dail not paying their bar bill
@liam ward60: Unfortunately it’s still open because they found another donkey to pay the tab for them. You and I
If they closed the Dail and left the pub open would we see any difference,I doubt it.
Who can ever forget Biffo who’s very fond of the aul gargle hungover to death one morning giving an interview to the media, it’s incredibe there’s an actual bar in the one place where key decisions (mostly all shambolic ones) are made about the country, you couldn’t make it up!!
But as I said on here years ago nothing will ever change in Ireland until the people stop voting in the same political party’s on rotation, insanity… Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
77 TDs voted no so far
@Jonny: it would look a bit better but Fianna fail abstained from the vote
Why should we subsidise their drink?? And we’re prob paying for their lift home after the beer too! Shut it down. They don’t require it for the job. In fact drinking at work is surely illegal?
It isn’t a priority With all the other problems we face as a country.
@Tom Kelly: so what leave it open for tax pay to cover ?
@Vincent: yeah fair enough.. with Brexit, hospital waiting lists and a massive homelessness crisis.. let’s stick this at the top of the to do list..
@Tom Kelly: yea, because people are only capable of doing one task at a time!! Oh wait, maybe that’s just idiots, the rest of us can multi task
Close that bloody bar down & go to the pub like the rest of us. What other business has a bar on it’s premises. Seriously, these politicians need a serious reality kick up the hole & so do the muppets that keep voting them back in.
Will blow over. FFG will see to that..
194 saying must be TDs family and friends
@Sheila Bedford: saying NO
@Sheila Bedford: I reckon if I had to collect a drunken family member late at nights, I wouldn’t be voting to keep the pub in their workplace open.
Leave it open. Why close it ? Do us Irish have to crib about everything.
These people are proposing and making decisions that will affect every person in this country both now and in generations to come.
It’s unacceptable that these people seem to think it’s OK to conduct such business and important life changing discussions under the influence of alcohol.
Do your drinking outside office hours and off site like the rest of us.
The more important thing is always missed in these debates, apart from closing down the bar which should have happened years ago there should be an immediate examination of the number of TDs and Senators. We have the highest per capita number of representatives in EU and wile the bar is one thing this is a far more important issue when they come calling for your vote
Dail gym and bar… great to know my taxes are going to such fantastic causes
@WoodlandBard: got a good laugh of that.
@WoodlandBard:
There should never be a bar in there as these are the people that are supposedly be running the country. They don’t do this if they are half intoxicated. Close it down.
They don’t have to shut it down. They should just stop subsidizing it.
Yes. God yes. Drinking at work and all that lark.
You’d think that even the Kerry Vintners might have other, more relevant, stuff on their agenda to talk about. On the other hand, if this is to be an acceptable response to the recently passed laws that appeared unpopular in the South West then it deserves no space in the media, IMHO!
No pub! Work is what you need to do lads! Coffee and tea should be allowed!
I know of no other job in the public sector that has a bar attached to it .This is where the most important decisions for this Country are being made with a pub in the middle of it.
Absolutely not, imagine all the new ways they would find to screw us if they were sober FFS.
Most certainly!
Yes. Its about time we get rid of the politicians perks and this deluded bunch gets a dose of reality.
Horrible idea, its a place where the true dealings take place! Plus its a bargain!
If we had the right public representatives, there would be only be the appropriate use of such a bar and it wouldn’t need the public to call for it to be taken away!
Close the bar and let them do the jobs they are paid to do , they cost the tax payer too much to be drinking on the job .
There is no bar in my job, why should there be one in theirs! Should they not be sobber making decisions on the country and it people!
Leave it be! We are becoming such a nanny society
All a shower of spoofers!! Especially FFG. Get the finger out and sort out this mess!!
We only have one bar in the Dail, a drop in the ocean to what the Brits have in Westminster. They have many choices for a boozy lunch there.
@Reuben Gray: Oh yes we need to be more like the Brits.
O f course it should .
On a practical level a bar in a workplace offers nothing but a detriment to their ability to do their job. They of course should have a place to unwind and chat with their colleagues casually but it should be a cafe or a canteen like every other workplace in the country.
On a symbolic level it has become a representation of the disrespect and disdain politicians have for the taxpayer and the voter. It’s now seen as a symbol of the disconnect between establishment politicians and the average person, a disconnect the political leaders like Varadkar have pledged to bridge citing “new politics”. This would be a good place to start, a small personal sacrifice to show what their priorities are and how they value their position and the taxpayer. It would sicken me if there was any sort of resistance to something like this.
This Dail passed a racist Alcohol law against the Irish People and they said we have as a Nation a difficult history with alcohol. DNA analysis shows there is no gene link to Alcoholism. We are not a Nation of “Drunken Paddies” , repeal the Alcohol Law and close the Dail bar.
Who else on this platform can say they have a pub at work….. They need to grow up and do something constructive with there working hours.
Who cares
Not necessarily but the prices should increase to match taxes charged on oil
Have it open at 6 and not be subsidised.
It should at least be run by an independent business, as a concession or similar. If it doesn’t make a profit, close it down.
It’s a place of work it should be closed immediately. Q how do these ministers get home hopefully not drinking and driving.
Imagine the decisions they could make if they were all sober? Keep it open. Did Leo have a few before his scrap with Doherty today?
The daily bar is not subsidized, then why is there no VAT on the drink? That’s subsidizing
And that will serve them right for not paying for their Bar bills .
If Joe public behaved like this he would be called a free loader
What other public servants would be allowed drink at work ?
€3 a pint? Sounds like a college not the place that makes our countries decisions,, Absolute criminals, down with that sort of thing!!!!
Well if your never likely to be in that particular bar then. who cares.
If they want a drink then go to one of the many pubs on Baggot Street like all other working people do. Privileges my hole!
This a stupid silly season motion
The said dail bar is a public bar used by all and sundry who visit the dail…school tour groups having coca cola n crisps
Other visiting groups having tea n sandwiches
All Leinster house staff and reporters having lunch tea coffees soups
And yes alcohol consumed at normal times after work..maybe with visitors. Also used for meeting briefings lobbying. Absolutely silly impractical to consider closing it
Misinformation disinformation silly season stuff
@Tom OLeary: A cafe or canteen can serve all of those purposes, there’s no reason for it to be a bar serving alcohol.
Bunch of slobbering tramps
How much is a pint in there?
@Seamus Brady: 3€
Very easy poll to get “Yes” votes for. However the thing is the main use of the Dail Bar today is for food and tea/coffee. The days of a load of politicians getting sloshed are really a thing of decades gone past. I’m sure some alcohol is consumed but I don’t believe it’s on the scale it’s let on to be.
Keep it open with no taxpayer subsidiaries
have your say