54 Mr. E. Walsh asked the Minister for Justice the cost of processing applications for special exemptions to the licensing laws, including the cost of court and Garda time, in view of the fact that the number of exemptions granted had risen to over 55,000 in 1994. [17621/96]

It would not be possible, without the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time, to quantify the cost of processing applications for special exemption orders.

However, applications for special exemption orders attract excise duty of £90 and a court fee of £20.