Oral Statement NI Assembly by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons MLA

Date published: 18 November 2025

Mr Speaker,

During the passage of the Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, this House approved an amendment placing a statutory duty on my Department to appoint an independent person to undertake a review of the liquor licensing system, including the surrender principle.

In fulfilment of that duty, my Department appointed a consortium led by the University of Stirling to undertake the review. The resulting report, published on 21 February 2025, contained 26 wide ranging recommendations covering the operation and administration of the regime, its impact on public health and the economy and its responsiveness to consumer and community needs.

These recommendations are publicly available, and I would encourage you to read them.

The Act also required my Department to produce and publish a plan setting out how it proposes to respond to the report. Each of these 26 recommendations has been considered faithfully and in detail by my officials and a comprehensive response to each can be found in the document published this morning.

In some circumstances, the response of my Department is to definitively accept or not accept the authors’ recommendation. Other recommendations required a more nuanced approach; this includes where the Department partially accepts the recommendation, or where the underlining objective is already satisfied within the current regime.

In providing this update to my fellow members of this House let me begin by reaffirming a core and guiding principle; alcohol is not an ordinary commodity. Its sale is rightly subject to regulation of a licensing regime which dictates who can sell alcohol, where, when and in what circumstances.

The purpose of these controls is to ensure that the right balance is struck between facilitating the responsible sale and consumption of alcohol and protecting public health, public safety and public order. In this way, the licensing regime also plays a role in assisting our hospitality sector, in terms of its sustainability and attractiveness to customers.

Our licensed premises are vital to the Northern Ireland economy. They support tourism, provide employment, and serve as important social spaces in our communities. That is why I have decided not to accept the authors’ recommendation for targeted reform of the surrender principle.

The Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Act 2021 delivered the most significant reform of our licensing system in over 25 years. It modernised a regime that had remained largely unchanged since 1996, introducing extended opening hours, removing outdated restrictions, and creating new licence categories to reflect changing consumer habits and to support local producers. These reforms were evidence based, phased, and carefully calibrated to support both public interest and sector sustainability.

Any further reform must be held to the same standard. The recommendation to reform the surrender principle, and the authors’ other recommendations, were not impact assessed or costed, and I am not persuaded that the authors have made a compelling case for such a fundamental change, which could have significant and unintended consequences on the economic viability of our hospitality sector at a time when many are operating below viability thresholds; I understand that recent figures from Hospitality Ulster have highlighted that 27% of operators are now operating at a loss and another 20% just breaking even.

However, this is not a rejection of progress. The report has also provided my Department with the opportunity to consider how the regime can be further improved and modernised.

I have directed my officials to explore how far the current licensing regime has contributed to the growth in off-sales and the relative decline in pub licences and the policy options available for effectively addressing any corresponding growth in alcohol related harms.

The role the licensing regime can play in supporting market diversity and innovation will also inform my Department’s response to recommendations on local producers’ licences introduced in 2022, that will be taken forward following the completion of a statutory review. This will be accompanied by direct and meaningful engagement between my Department and representatives from the sector.

The action my Department takes in response to all of these recommendations reflects my priority to ensure the licensing regime is as effective as possible in addressing alcohol related harm. This includes clear commitments to work with our delivery partners, including in the Department of Health, to explore how best to reflect public health concerns in the administration of the licensing regime, including via the application of the adequacy principle which ensures a licence will not be granted if there are already an adequate number of licenced premises in the vicinity.

I will also take action in a number of other areas, for example:

• Community input into licensing decisions will be strengthened by reviewing the objections process;
• Transparency and accessibility will be enhanced. I am not taking forward the recommendation to establish a new Licensing Authority, however I have asked my officials to work with their delivery partners to make the system easier to navigate for applicants and stakeholders.

A number of the recommendations made by the authors fall within the responsibility of the Department of Justice and its agencies. I will write to my Executive colleague the Minister of Justice, bringing these recommendations to her attention and seeking her views.

Mr Speaker, this review has provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on how our licensing regime can evolve. But reform must be proportionate, evidence-led, and aligned with the needs of our communities and economy.

I am committed to working with delivery partners, stakeholders, and industry representatives to ensure any changes are consulted on, fully impact assessed, and subject to meaningful engagement.

In the meantime, we will focus on what can be done now, within the existing regime, to improve awareness, accessibility, and responsiveness. This includes ensuring that public health concerns are not just acknowledged but actively addressed.

I commend this statement to the House.