In July, a draconian new licensing regime was rushed through the Dáil. Under it, nightclub opening hours have been curtailed and off-licenses are forced to close by 10pm. There is still no dedicated nightclub licence. Nor has the ‘sequential’ closing of pubs and clubs been embraced. It’s a world away from the European norm, where people are treated as adults, and clubs open till all hours. Sunil Sharpe, spokesman for the Give Us The Night campaign, is deeply unhappy about the development.
“The current laws hinder our entertainment and music scenes, not to mention our reputation as a tourist destination,” he says. “Other European countries recognise that bars and nightclubs are two different things. Their opening hours are different. Why can’t we acknowledge it? It’s widely recognised that in order to combat the potential for late night violence or public disorder, you need to keep the flow of people on the streets to a minimum, while offering a reliable public transport system for patrons to get home quickly and safely.”
Ah, the European nightlife: dancing and cavorting until dawn and not having to put up with Dame Street’s taxi queues or the dreaded Nitelink. Liberalisation campaigners such as Sharpe make Berlin and Paris seem like heaven on earth. And compared to what passes for nightlife in Dublin now, they are.
Under the new Intoxicating Liquor Act a theatre licence can no longer be used by nightclubs. That change would make sense, for sure, if a dedicated nightclub license had been introduced. Instead, clubs are being forced to revert to the District Court for a standard extension to the regular licence to allow them to open until 2:30am. It is time-consuming, clogs up the courts and is expensive. Meanwhile, closing on a Sunday night/Monday morning is pushed back to 1am.
“I recently debated with a Fianna Fáil TD on Cork’s Red FM who openly admitted that he did not know if the new legislation was going to work, but that he hoped it would. This is typical of the Fianna Fáil attitude on licensing – give it a lash and hope for the best,” says Sharpe.
The Government has consistently pitched the measure as a response to public order problems. Sharpe is skeptical on that score – and also worries that layoffs will result.
“It has already resulted in job losses. Many venues do not find it financially viable to open on Sunday nights when they can only trade until 1am, so many people have lost their Sunday night shift. Others have been let go due to the simple fact that venues are now making less money. It’s a mess.
“Dermot Ahern, in any interview or debate on the matter, showed a distinct lack of respect towards the nightlife industry, talking down to everyone as a ‘concerned parent’ – without taking into account that many of the people involved in, or going out and enjoying, the nightlife industry are parents too. They targeted the wrong people, basically. Nightclubs, or those going to them, were not responsible for underage drinking or anti-social behaviour problems.”
There is some prospect of a return to the issue when a Sale of Alcohol Bill is on the agenda. Sharpe, for one, is adamant that the fight goes on.
“We want to impress on politicians and the public at large that nightlife is not all about alcohol. It’s an industry in which some of the country’s most talented and creative people work and entertain week in, week out. They deserve to be treated with more respect than this Government have shown.”