LAST UPDATE | 27 Oct 2022
ON TUESDAY, PROPOSALS to reform Ireland’s licensing laws were finally brought to Cabinet.
The main outcome of this legislation, hopefully, approved by summer 2023, will be that nightclubs will have the option to open till 6am, pubs can open till 12.30am seven days a week and a new Night-Time Advisor Pilot initiative will be established.
This is very welcome news to an industry that has been decimated – not just by Covid lockdowns that completely shut down the remaining nightclub businesses that had made it as far as 2020 – but by environmental, political and circumstantial factors that have seen the number of nightclubs go from 500 around 20 years ago, to 300 in 2009 and only 80 today.
If you were to look at the numbers alone, it would be easy to suggest that there is no appetite for nightclubs in modern Ireland. However, by simply attending any dance tent at the many festivals each summer, the sheer number of dancers at these gigs suggests otherwise.
The number of DIY venues that are catering to more niche audiences tend to go under many people’s radars. The after-hours underground parties with €30 ticket prices and buses going to secret locations so people can continue to dance, prove that the dancing is happening, but workarounds have had to be found as appropriate facilities and opening hours are coming up short. Just because the doors close doesn’t mean people are going to bed.
‘Pearl-clutchers’
Our traditional Catholic upbringings and difficult past under colonial rule have led us to become a nation of pearl-clutchers when it comes to justifying the presence of pleasure.
What is wrong with people wanting to dance ’till late in the night or early in the morning? It’s taken the inclusion of the word ‘economy’ to validate the existence of a late night culture; the fact that people wanted to do it wasn’t enough.
Despite our rich tradition of musical sessions, craic agus ruaille buaille, clubbing never really received the seal of approval as something to celebrate. Or fight for. Sunil Sharpe’s founding of Give Us The Night embodied both the cry of the nightclub industry as well as the clubbers who believed we deserved more.
Clubbing is often regarded as simply late night drinking with music – which it can often be. But the emergence of a different type of clubbing in Ireland as a subculture that celebrates the music, fashion, creativity, connection and sometimes protest found on the dancefloor has developed alongside the political movements of Irish society.
Clubbing is culture. And it deserves to be nurtured and protected. As with all cultural pursuits, if it’s not nourished and given the space to grow, it will die. And whilst it may not be *your* culture, that does not invalidate the fact that clubbing is indeed, culture.
If we do not consider clubbing within the traditional definition of culture, we’ll continue to see the eradication of a culture that has persevered through some of humanity’s hardest times in the modern era, has helped people survive and thrive and has been the catalyst for some of fashion, art, theatre and music’s most iconic moments. Culture.
‘Spilling onto the streets’
The new proposals to reform our licensing laws will play a part in addressing the problems that can be associated with late night revelry. Staggered closing of night-time entertainment venues allows for a more gradual outflow of people who mostly require services like taxis and buses to get home.
An acknowledgement that people are still out late at night means that public transport can be scheduled through the night (also a necessity that’s been overlooked for shift workers for too long). Entertainment that runs until 6am takes away the focus on consumption alone as the only thing to do till the sun comes up.
Treating people who want to dance through the night like adults means they will act like adults and go out and go home when they want to, not when they’re forced to fit their night out into three hours and bring their night to an early close (or not as the case so often is).
The addition of the Cultural Amenity License for galleries, theatres and museums opens up a whole new world of entertainment. At the recent Foggy Notions Haunted Dancehall event in the National Concert Hall, electronic music was devoured through a clubbing lens.
The multi-purpose use of such cultural venues could demonstrate not just the potential, but the importance of such a communal experience that goes beyond drinking.
This in itself proves there’s no need to be afraid of the night. The night time should be fun. And contrary to all the neoliberal messaging we’re hit with on an ongoing basis – life is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to feel good.
Hopefully what these changes bring about at the end of the day is the ability for custodians of the night to make commercially viable businesses that allow the culture of the nighttime to be celebrated and enjoyed.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if smaller, more experimental endeavours could now flex their wings and get creative without having those wings clipped by licensing red tape?
Additionally, these changes may help us realise that we’ve allowed our cities to be hollowed out for the sake of white label hotels and site speculation. It’s not too late to redress that balance. By acknowledging the importance of the night and its value, we can start to make space for it again in the public realm.
Andrea Horan is the founder of nail bar Tropical Popical, The Hunreal Issues, co-founder of No More Hotels, and co-presenter of Don’t Stop Repealin’ and United Ireland with Una Mullally. Twitter @andreahoran.
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