sinéad's lifestream

Recently I noticed that a number of Spar newsagents in Dublin City Centre have introduced a policy of only selling alcohol to persons over the age of 21. Despite the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003 stating that the legal age for the purchase of alcohol is 18.

The argument here is always: management of licensed premises have the right to refuse admission to a person under the age of 21 (or in some places 23). However, the law is different with regards to the actual sale of alcohol in off licences; the law clearly states that 18 is the legal age for the purchase of alcohol.

In my opinion their “store policy” is similar to some retail stores that state that their refund policy covers only 14 days or that they only issue credit notes (or vouchers) as refunds – in other words, their “store policy” is completely invalidated by the law.

This reminds me of the policy that Tesco supermarkets have; to only accept an Age Card as a valid form of photo ID. Despite the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003, SECTION 15 clearly stating that an “age document” (a document containing a photograph of the person and information that enables the age of the person to be determined) can be any of the following: an age card (aka Garda ID), a passport, an identity card issued by a member state of the European Communities or a driver licence.

The question is, by not selling alcohol to a person that is over the age of 18 and has a legal document to prove so, are they breaking the law?

Personally Spar isn’t a problem for me, as I am over the age of 21. However, with regards to Tesco no longer accepting my Passport… I had a nasty incident in a Tesco supermarket locally, where I argued with the staff that their notices read “If you are under 21 you must show a valid Garda age Card” and being as I am over 21 I did not have to produce a Garda Age Card – and yet they still refused to accept my Passport as proof that I was over 21. Very annoying. I’ll be bringing my business elsewhere from now on.

There is an article on Checkout.ie if you want more information.

I was fortunate enough to get Sufjan Stevens tickets this week, right before it sold out (he’s playing in the Olympia in November). I’m lucky I remembered that the tickets were going on sale, as the heat this week has really melted my brain.

Thankfully though the “heat wave” has finally begun to subside. Waking up on Tuesday at 8am to find it’s already 22′c is not pleasant, apparently it was the hottest day of the century (so far), with temperatures reaching 30′c here in Dublin. The horror. This kind of freakish weather always make me ponder global warming, I was so worried in fact that I actually rejoiced when it started to rain yesterday.

Since I’m having a rant about Ireland I might as well mention the CIA World Factbook. Which contains various facts about every country in the world, the most interesting fact on Ireland that I found was: as of 2003 the annual electricity generated in Ireland was 23.41 billion kWh. That figure is the lowest when compared to other European countries.

It’s no wonder that we import so much gas, and why the state agency Forfas is promoting Nuclear Power – which is actually insane considering how radioactive the Irish Sea already is because of 1 Nuclear Power plant, that isn’t even IN Ireland.

Nuclear Power is like a “get rich quick scheme”, it seems like an obvious and easy solution to a country’s energy crisis, but all get rich quick schemes involve some kind of illicit activities. If only someone could wake up and realise that we are sitting on a gold mine of electrical power, and it comes from the 4 elements that nature provides for us: wind, water, earth and sun. We’ve plenty of those, so why not use them? Yes, the initial setup costs would be expensive, but the after-care costs of Nuclear Power are far greater.

Another interesting fact that I read in the CIA World Factbook: the ethic groups residing in Ireland are; Celtic and English. I think this needs a dramatic overhaul, from personal experience working in Dublin, almost 80% of my customers are neither Celtic OR English.