“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here…”

That familiar closing-time refrain has gone nowhere in 2023 – with advocates for positive changes to Ireland’s nightlife still awaiting the promised extension of nightclub opening hours that was announced over a year ago.

While Leo Varadkar reckons it will be summer ‘24 before we get the laws enacted – allowing nightclubs to stay open until 6am, in line with other, less repressed, European cities – some fear it might be too little too late for nightlife in Ireland, which is also facing challenges like escalating running and insurance costs. Just this summer, the popular club Tramline became the latest addition to the increasingly crowded Dublin nightclub graveyard...

Of course, there’s been victories along the way too – largely thanks to campaigning by Give Us The Night, as well as the energy, innovation and passion of everyone involved in Irish nightlife. One positive solution that Minster Catherine Martin has attempted to provide for the lingering issue of NIMBYism is the €2 million noise mitigation grant scheme, allowing venues to put soundproofing measures in place.

We’re also, despite all the odds, in the midst of a real golden age for dance music on these shores, with an unstoppable wave of Irish producers and DJs continuing to step up to the global stage. Tipperary native Blk will become the first solo Irish DJ to headline the 3Arena on St Patrick’s Day 2024, while Belters Only and Jazzy continue to find major chart success on both sides of the Irish Sea, with tracks made here in Dublin.

As Belters’ RobbieG told us earlier this year: “If there were facilities in Dublin – like nightclubs, and support for that culture – imagine what music would be made, and imagine how far we’d go in the world, in terms of dance music. We’re doing all of this with no support...”

Belters Only at Electric Picnic 2023. Photos by Miguel Ruiz/Hot Press

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