Our delightful and clearly quite competent Government prefers dancing to the Walls of Limerick rather than 50 Cent, so is proposing to introduce a 2008 Liquor Licensing Bill which will tinker with the closing times of pubs & clubs.
If the bill is passed, clubs all over the country (theatre license or not) will close at 2.30AM six nights a week, and at 1AM on Sundays. The nightclub industry (probably with due cause) gets a lot of stick over the amount of public order offenses that occur in the wee hours. In an effort to tackle this, industry heads have long been pushing for sequenced closing hours, where pub closings and nightclubs are staggered over the night to avoid one massive spill of drunkards at the same time. Apparently a vast amount of research has attested to the sensibility of such a plan, but God knows what this research is & who conducted it (probably the nightclub industry themselves). So I can't vouch for the research, but the idea does make sense to me.
So I have signed a petition the nightclub folk have set up to try garner support for their proposals, or, more accurately, to try to shoot down the new licensing bill. Aside from the politics/social implications of the whole thing, late bars are fun. I like the fact that you can respectfully disagree with regular pubs deciding 2.30 should be your bed-time, and head over to the Gaiety for a reggae band and some tequila.
If you happen to agree, you can head over here to sign the petition. C'mon, save the boozing!
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