Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Intoxicating Liquor Laws
The following statement was issued in 1959 by the Irish hierarchy at their June meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:
The Irish hierarchy has had under consideration the reports of the Commission of Inquiry into the operation of the laws relating to the sale and supply of intoxicating liquor.
The proposal of the majority of the commission to alter these laws has very grave moral, religious and economic implications.
The hierarchy is chiefly concerned with the moral and religious aspects of the proposed legislation.
It is a matter of deep regret that the Report should have confined its attention so largely to drunkenness — a relatively rare occurrence nowadays — rather than to drinking habits or addiction to alcohol.
The abolition of bona fide trading, if carried out, may be beneficial, but the benefits accruing from the change must be very seriously diminished by the recommendation to extend the opening hours all over the country on weekdays from 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. (with a break of one hour, 2.30 p.m. — 3.30 p.m. in County Boroughs only) and on Sundays from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m., and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
It cannot escape the attention of any responsible person that a relaxation of the law must seriously affect our people, more especially the youth of both sexes.
Increased facilities for obtaining intoxicating liquor by the extension of the general opening hours will inevitably lead to a greater extension of alcoholism which, in modern conditions has most serious moral and social effects in the increase of delinquency, and in widespread danger to life on the roads.
It is noteworthy that representatives of both the licensed trade and of the trade employees did not favour an extension of the hour of closing.
Other countries are feeling it necessary to adopt more stringent legislation in the public interest. The arguments adduced in the 1957 Irish Commission for what is called a policy of liberalisation are altogether unconvincing.
The bishops cannot believe that the vast and very reasonable majority of our decent people has shown any desire whatever for a relaxation of the law. On the contrary, the Christian sense of our people would welcome restriction and especially a genuine enforcement of law.
The evidence of the Gardaí before the Commission proves that the existing laws have not been impartially enforced.
The proposal of the Commission to permit universally the sale and supply of intoxicating liquor on Sundays, especially the proposal to permit opening immediately after Mass, strikes at what is most sacred in the life of our people. The rightful observance of the Lord’s Day has been one of the most powerful factors in preserving intact the Catholic life of Ireland.
While the concern of the bishops is primarily the moral and religious aspect of the proposed legislation, nonetheless, the bishops are acutely aware of the economic ills that must result from extended facilities for the consumption of intoxicating liquor. At a time when each successive Government is urging on the people the very grave need for thrift, hard work, and increased productivity, the recommendations of the majority of the Commission, insofar as they will make for increased drinking, are ill-advised and deeply hurtful to our economic life, domestic, social, and national.
The Irish hierarchy confidently hopes that legislation when it is introduced, will not weaken the moral fibre of our nation, and will respect the deep-seated convictions of our Catholic people.
Given at Maynooth on 23rd June, 1959.
Signed on behalf of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland.
Chairman —
+JOHN D’ALTON,
Archbishop of Armagh,
Primate of All Ireland.
Secretaries —
+WILLIAM MacNEELY,
Bishop of Raphoe.
+JAMES FERGUS,
Bishop of Achonry.
Posted on April 1, 2011, in Alcoholism, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, Bishop Con Lucey, Bishop Michael Browne, Bishops' Pastorals, Cardinal John D'Alton, Catholic Action, Catholic Social Teaching, Decorum, Economics, Irish Church-State Relations, Irish History, Mass. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Lux Occulta 
I wonder how the hierarchy could have described drunkenness as ‘a relatively rare occurrence’ in 1959, though their concern about drinking habits and addiction was spot on. If anything, these are both greater problems today.
I don’t think that Life published the photo you chose in the context of the bishops’ statement but it highlights the perception so many have of Ireland, a perception that is based to some extent on reality but that distorts the overall picture. When I studied in the USA as a young priest from 1968 to 1971 there were, as I recall, two prolonged bank strikes in Ireland. CBS news in the USA on at least one occasion reported this and showed people using all kinds of pieces of paper, including cigarette packs, as cheques – and using the pub as an interim bank.
In 1988 I was visiting friends in Amsterdam. One of them, as he showed me around the city, introduced me to a number of his friends and acquaintances that we came across. He pointed out to me that every one of them, when they heard I was from Ireland, mentioned Guinness, the IRA or both. I don’t drink and I loathe the IRA. My friend was embarrassed at the immediate connection made between Irish people, Guinness and the IRA. I find it a tiresome cliché but one we promote ourselves. More than once I have met people who presume I am pleased by their implication that I think Guinness is God’s greatest gift to the world and that I approved of what the IRA was doing during ‘The Troubles’.
However, I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when BBC World Service interviewed on the news on St Patrick’s in Beijing or some other Chinese city the owner of an ‘Irish’ pub who was an Irishman. He pointed out that St Patrick’s Day is basically a celebration of our Christian faith.
The second-last sentence above should read ‘ . . . ‘on St Patrick’s Day in Beijing . . .’
Father, first of all apologies for the delay in approving your excellent comments – I was away all day yesterday.
The hierarchy’s bit about drunkeness being ‘a relatively rare occurrence’ in 1959 absolutely baffled me too. What planet were they on? Drinking was also a problem among many priests at that time too, particularly in rural areas (and still is among a few priests I know – not unconnected with lonliness, demoralization from the scandals and an increased workload).
Pubs are dying in rural Ireland and the trend towards drinking at home has made the problem worse (though it does make the roads a bit safer). Drugs are a big problem among my generation. Maybe we need a new Fr Matthew?
Sadly St Patrick’s Day has now become comprehrensively secularized – this is particularly evident at the Dublin parade.