After two hour robust debate the Liquor Licence Amendment Act 2013 was passed, paving the way for alcohol to be served seven-days-a-week, including Sunday’s.

But the eventual passage did not come without objections by a number of MPs.

Progressive Labour Party Deputy Leader Derrick Burgess insisted he didn’t think it was necessary to approve the sale of alcohol as early as 8am on a Sunday morning in Bermuda.

“It’s despicable and I don’t think it’s necessary,” he said.

Based on his experience in the hotel industry he said Sunday was the one day hotel guests slept in and eventually turned up for breakfast late.

Independent MP Terry Lister said the day for him was “quite surprising in many ways”.

As an independent MP he said he takes his job seriously. “In that job I am to listen to both sides, and I have voted with the Opposition, I’ve voted with the Government,” he said.

“I voted on a bill one night you will recall, that passed 16 to 15, my vote passed that bill for the Government because I thought it was the right bill.

“And I believe that the Government was doing it’s best for the people of Bermuda. Today I’m convinced I was wrong and I don’t know who this Government is working for. It’s not the electorate — it’s somebody, but I’m not sure who.”

He reflected back on a Ministerial Statement delivered earlier this year by Tourism and Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell.

“He said he was going to reduce the permissible limit of alcohol in one’s blood from 80 to 40, which would take it down to one of the lowest levels in the world.

“And then he said we’re going to move ahead with roadside sobriety tests. I support it, I think it’s right and now we come to this question of the urgency of now.

“And I will tell you it’s a phrase I hate hearing. I wish I’d never hear it again because I don’t see it, I hear it, but I don’t hear it. And what I see brought urgently are things that maybe we should be leaving alone.”

Mr Lister continued: “It is not urgent to cut down the allowable amount that people can drink and drive. It is not urgent to do roadside tests but it is urgent to allow the sale of liquor Sundays.

“We are all tired of losing our people on the roads. We have ten, 15, 20 people a year who die on the roads. Now that statistic, on a population basis when you compare it other countries is very high.

“But the statistics that we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about are the number of people injured on the roads — sometimes permanently injured,” he said.

“And so we would want to do things that moves in the direction of less rather than more. But here we are today doing something that every member so far has said would increase alcohol consumption.

“I haven’t heard anybody say this will stop it. They’ll less on Saturday, and they’ll buy some on Sunday and if you add the two together it’ll be less — nobody said that. Nobody thinks it, that’s what we’re saying. We’re going to increase consumption.”

Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell interjected at that point with a point of clarification.

“There are legal issues in relation to the roadside sobriety checks so it’s not that this Minister did not want to. There are matters that have to be considered.

But Mr Lister questioned the mix messages being sent to the community.

“Seven days ago we all stood and sang together about the scourge of drugs and alcohol and what it’s doing to our country, and how we need to move ahead and fix the country.

“And here we stand today going in the opposite direction. What are the people supposed to think — what is the message that comes with this?”

Just seven days ago he said MPs spent a vast amount of time “looking at what was right for the National Drug Commission to fix our people who have been broken by these substances”.

“Now we’re going the other way. I just don’t understand the thought processes that go through the mind of this Government. This is all the Cabinet that thought this up and maybe in the shuffle, it got shuffled — I don’t know. But it doesn’t make sense.”

Eventually the bill was passed to be sent to the Senate before Government House for the Governor’s assent.