Irish nightlife advocacy Give Us The Night have renewed their calls for licensing changes in the wake of a meeting engagement with the Oireachtas last week.
Last week, representatives of Irish nightlife, including Robbie Kitt and Sunil Sharpe (Give Us The Night), Dublin DJ and promoter Bill Harris (Bull Horris) , Galway DJ and artist agency IMO’S Imogen O’Flaherty, Cork DJ and organiser Nat McCormack (NATMAC) and Belters Only’ Robbie Griffiths (RobbieG) attended the meeting which was set to address the government’s lack of action around nightlife legislation in recent years.
While the government announced their commitment to extend opening hours, create new permits, repeal the 1935 Public Dance Halls Act and change the sweeping promises of late night legislation change, nothing has happened since, and the work on the changes to Sale of Alcohol Bill began in 2005, nearly 20 years ago now.
Changes were due to be enacted by this summer but the government has once again, shown their ineptitude to embrace modern thinking and to kowtow to old back benchers who don’t understand the fundamental changes and why they are needed.
According to Give Us The Night stats, while there were 522 nightclubs in Ireland in the year 2000, there are now only 90, which account for 0.6% of the total of active alcohol licences in Ireland (14,840).
Give Us The Night have reiterated their five main priority points for the government.
- Urgent publishing and enactment of Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2024.
- Waive Special Exemption Order costs for late-night venues in budget. Replace with yearly late-night permits, priced at a nominal fee.
- For the Government to design a Nightlife Action Plan. Committing enhanced initial resources for policing, public transport and emergency services (if necessary) in time with new licensing laws being enacted, and to review these areas at regular intervals thereafter.
- Increase Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media’s yearly Night-Time Economy budget to €10 million. To include new funding support for the commercial sector, with a focus on grassroots live venues and nightclubs.
- Reduce 23% VAT rate on tickets/door admission to 0% for dance events (that operate under the current Special Exemption Order system) as part of a three year Nightclub Industry Regeneration period. Return to 9% in line with other cultural venues.
Our priority requests to the Government right now. Five key measures that will help venues within our unique sector to survive and maybe over time, thrive again. #giveusthenight pic.twitter.com/YYQtixiDKD
— Give Us The Night (@GiveUsTheNight) July 5, 2024
Nightclub numbers by county, 2024
Dublin (22)
Donegal (10)
Limerick (6)
Cork (6)
Galway (4)
Louth (4)
Mayo (4)
Westmeath (4)
Kildare (3)
Kilkenny (3)
Clare (2)
Kerry (2)
Laois (2)
Longford (2)
Meath (2)
Monaghan (2)
Offaly (2)
Waterford (2)
Wexford (2)
Carlow (1)
Cavan (1)
Leitrim (1)
Roscommon (1)
Sligo (1)
Tipperary (1)
Wicklow (1)
The Irish nightlife group, Give Us the Night, met with TDs and Senators today to push promised licensing reforms.
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) July 3, 2024
They say planned changes to the legislation are stalling, and that current restrictions on opening hours are stifling the industry. @maireadcleary7 reports: pic.twitter.com/ZAsKfOiaQ2
