There has been rising pressure from Fine Gael TDs, Chief  Medical Officer Breda Smyth and the Road Safety authority on new Fine Gael leader Simon Harris to abandon the plan to extend licensing laws.

Backbench TDs Michael Ring and Charlie Flanagan have called on the new leader of their party to pull its policies back towards what they call its “core values”, including by discarding the proposed late-night licensing laws that have been in development over the last few years.

The General Scheme of the Sale of Alcohol Bill was published in 2022 following public consultation. It was scrutinised by the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, which said the legislation would help to revitalise the night-time economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nightlife industry campaign group Give Us The Night has said the legislation to allow nightclubs to open until 6 am  and pubs till 12.30 am will bring “new opportunities”.

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the law would be introduced by summer 2024, having previously promised that the reform would come into effect last summer.

However, speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme on Sunday, Fine Gael TD Michael Ring said: “Fine Gael has to go back to its core values".

Mr Ring added that the party should scrap "this daft idea of opening pubs all night".

Similarly, Fine Gael Charlie Flanagan tweeted saying that housing and healthcare were priorities as opposed to "all night drinking".

Housing & Health the priorities. Core values include supporting business & farm families.
No all night drinking.
No euthanasia,
Ditch the ill-defined Hate Bill.
Back to Basics. https://t.co/yx7BLvidPq

— Charlie Flanagan (@CharlieFlanagan) March 23, 2024

Chief Medical Officer Breda Smyth has opposed the bill in recent days with her department releasing a statement saying that the CMO: "wrote to the minister for justice requesting that the minister for justice give further consideration to carrying out a Health Impact Assessment on the Sale of Alcohol Bill".

The chief medical officer joins the Road Safety authority in calling for the Health Impact Assessment on the bill.

Musician's response

Speaking to The Journal, DJ Sunil Sharpe of Give Us The Night said that: "any suggestion or notion of Fine Gael dropping the bill now is mad talk.

"Misleading our industry, community and the wider public who bought into pre-election promises of reform would be a huge mistake for Fine Gael".

Concluding Sharpe said: "You can’t seriously say that you care about the night-time economy and then do that. All things said, I feel that they can get it right and quell the dissenting voices if they simply assure the public that they have resources in place, particularly with policing".

Some positive measures have taken place with Minister Catherine Martin introducing the € 2 million noise mitigation scheme which would allow business owners to apply for a grant to fund 70% of their sound proofing costs.

Ireland despite all this is home to a bourgeoning club music scene with Tipperary native blk. becoming 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.

However, as  Belters Only's   RobbieG said last year of the licensing laws: “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….”