club closing times...

polarbelly

here is a link to a petition being sent to dail eireann in opposition to the proposed early closing hours for nightclubs.

http://www.petitiononline.com/night269/petition.html

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Sunday Independent, 26/9/2004
Secret garda plot to curb nightclubs

LIAM COLLINS
and DON LAVERY

GARDAI have secretly decided to impose early closing times on nightclubs, in a move which will outrage the industry and club-going public.

The plan, agreed on Friday, is to have all Dublin nightclubs closed at 1.30am with no exemptions.

A shocked nightclub industry only became aware of the plan yesterday and is planning to mount a huge campaign to oppose it. Yesterday they warned they would be put out of business if the plan is approved by the courts.

And they hit out the nanny-State mentality which imposed even more controls on the socialising public.

Gardai are understood to be preparing to apply in the licensing courts on Wednesday to oppose exemptions which allow nightclubs remain open beyond 1.30am.

The move could also apply to late-night pubs and venues with theatre licences. The apparent reason is to curb early-hour public-order offences in Dublin.

Yesterday, however, the move was condemned by many nightclub and theatre owners who warned it would drive the business underground, damage tourism, cost jobs and destroy their businesses.

"This is absolutely ridiculous, it's like prohibition," said Jay Bourke, of the Irish Night club Industry Associa-tion (INIA).

"People in the nightclub business are absolutely terrified. If they close me down at 1.30am, I might as well shutmy doors. I am effectively out of business."

Robbie Fox of well-known club Reynards said the move would mean 20,000 "very unhappy people" hitting the streets all at the one time and would actually make the problem worse.

John Costigan, managing director of the Gaiety Theatre, said he supported what the Gardai were reported to be doing in relation to spurious theatre licence operations, but he did not want the Gaiety to become a victim of it.

The Gaiety was one of the few genuine theatre licence operators with no public order issues, and the income from their late night operations on Friday and Saturday underpinned the risk element of some of the shows they put on. Such a move could endanger the Gaiety's future as a live theatre, he said.

The new move by the Gardai comes amid increasing concern about drunken behaviour and public order offences on the street of Dublin, and in the week when a Government report warned that drink related problems cost Irish society €2.65bn last year. A Garda statement issued yesterday to the Sunday Independent said: "Senior Gardai in the Dublin Metropolitan region have met recently to discuss the general problem of public order in the city in the early hours of the morning.

"Various options are presently under consideration and we are not commenting on any more detail at this stage."

A key element is pulling back last drinks to 1.30am ina blanket move with closureat 2am.

Mr Bourke, who runs clubs like Ri Ra in Dublin and the Savoy in Cork as well as a string of pubs, said the proposal "is a serious threat to the nightclub business."

"If people are allowed to drink in pubs until 1am why would they come out and pay money to get into a nightclub for 30 minutes - it just doesn't make sense," he said.

Mr Fox said he pays €70,000 a year for exemptions, as, under Irish law, there is no such thing asnightclubs - instead they operate as public houses and must apply for exemptions every month.

He was in favour of a sequenced closing of pubs and theatre venues with night-clubs closing at 3.30am. This latest Garda move would mean Dublin closing down at 1.30am.

knobbles

1.30am????
ah, they're havin a laugh,
surely

LeonaK

This is MADNESS. Just one more example of how Ireland is slowly but surely returning to the dark ages. I suppose you heard about them raiding "Club Outstagous" in Galway? The official Garda line being,
"We intend to do our level best to do away with this kind of thing". Have they ever SEEN Father Ted???

"Down with this sort of thing"
"Careful now"

For the love of God...once again I ask myself, "how do other countries manage?" (Last time I thought this was when they were royally effing up the red cow junction) I mean, The Italians and the Spanish like their boozy nights out too.. not to mention the Dutch, Germans and Belgians. The answer - plain common sense. Many clubs stay open all night.. others close at staggered hours. So everyone is not coming out and fighting over taxis at exactly the same time, plus the "quick the bar is closing - get a few rounds in!" binge drinking just doesn't happen.

So the Garda's "solution" to this problem is not - "let's look to other tried and tested solutions" but "let's make our system EVEN more regimental and strict"...let's piss people off even more.. so they have to drink faster and leave pubs already angry about what, lets face it, is a thinly disguised public curfew.

And the Irish have an international reputation for being fun-loving laid back types :rolleyes: I despair.. I really do.