“The drink laws won't work”

The Chairman of the Irish Nightclub Association, Jay Burke, has slammed Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s plans for a new Intoxicating Liquor Bill, warning that if introduced it will lead to widespread job losses.

“The Minister is merely playing to the press,” he charges. “He has to be seen to be doing something, and he’s not thinking about this in a proper manner.”

Among the proposals that Burke deems to be “unworkable” are fines of upto €1,500 for licensees who either serve or allow drunk people onto their premises.

“It’s very difficult to tell who’s had what, or what they’ve had before they came to your pub,” he tells Hot Press. “And what constitutes being drunk? It’s going to be very hard to enforce. We can’t smoke, we can’t drink. Someone said to me, ‘Let’s ban alcohol in pubs. Let’s ban music in nightclubs.’”

Burke feels that his members have been singled out for unfair criticism by Michael McDowell and the Gardai.

“The misconception is that people get drunk in clubs. If you took the sales of an average club and divide that by the number of punters, the industry average is 2.5 drinks per head. That’s not binge drinking. It’s a provable statistic.

“We’re not pubs, we’re not selling drink. Our primary purpose is selling music, entertainment and fun.”

Of paramount concern to the INA is the ban on music being played during the allocated half-hour of pub and club drinking-up time.

“That would be our strongest criticism of the new legislation.” Burke asserts. “Before, you could have music going after the bar has shut. That’s no longer the case. In some places in the country, you get what’s known as a special exemption order to half past one and the club would stay open until 2am or 2.15. Now if you get a special exemption order to half past one, boom, no clubbing. Who’s going to go to a nightclub if the music stops at half past one? What harm did dancing ever do anyone? It’s a very, very healthy pursuit. Has the Minister ever been dancing? Maybe he should go.”

Burke, whose own interests include RiRa and Café En Seine, also believes that there are public order implications.

“In terms of getting people home, if everyone’s leaving the clubs and pubs and restaurants at the same time, there’s going to be more overcrowding in the cities. The units should be closed in a sequential manner – in other words, the pubs should close at 12 o’clock, we should close at 3 o’clock so that the buses and cabs can get people home. It’s a really big issue for some of the guys down the country.”

Another bone of contention, as far as the Irish Nightclub Association is concerned, is the €300 fine for failing to ID under-21s.

“It’s ridiculous,” Burke charges. “As owners, we want people to have IDs and we want them to be real IDs and we want the people who carry false IDs to be prosecuted. It’s not our fault if someone has a really good forgery, and yet we’re being blamed for it.”

Far from taking the new Intoxicating Liquor Bill lying down, the Irish Nightclub Association plans to exert as much political pressure as it can on the government to prevent its passing.

“In the organisation I represent, there are 128 member clubs with a turnover of €200 to €300 million,” says Jay Burke. “That’s a lot of money. A lot of people are employed by them, and a lot of people go to them. A lot of voters go! It’s up to us to get this message across to the Minister, get the public involved and get it out to the media.”