petition for dail eireann regarding the closure of nightclubs (4 Viewers)

[Remedy]

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

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

 

[Thayl]

From the Irish Times, Monday 27/9/2004:
Gardai may object to bar extensions
Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent

The licensing courts in Dublin are likely to hear objections from senior members of the Garda Síochána when the special exemption orders for club licences come up for annual review this week.

Senior members of the force in Dublin met on Friday to consider public-order issues arising from late-night drinking.

Various options were considered, according to a Garda spokesman, who said the force did not want to comment further at the moment.

However, it is understood that the options under the existing licensing laws were discussed, including objections to special exemption orders.

Nightclubs operate under the normal licensing laws for public houses, but routinely seek special exemption orders allowing them to stay open later, sometimes up to 4.30 a.m.

There could be objections either to the length of the order, or to granting it at all.

In the past, bar extensions were granted for special occasions. Until 2000 a "substantial meal" had to be served, but that has since been changed.

At the moment either the local Garda superintendent or any member of the public can object to the granting of a special exemption order on the basis it would cause noise or nuisance. It has been rare for a Garda superintendent to object.

However, with increased publicity surrounding the problem of late-night drinking, it is likely that senior gardaí will exercise their right to object more strenuously than they have in the past. It is understood the Garda Síochána is also looking at the situation of theatre licences, which allow for half an hour's drinking after the end of a performance. While this is not expected to have an impact on the major theatres, gardaí are looking at what constitutes a performance in other venues, and at situations where a "performance" ends at 3 or 4 a.m.

 

[Thayl]

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.

 

[moc]

surely this wont go ahead.

the move was condemned by many nightclub and theatre owners who warned it would drive the business underground

though this might be cool.

 

[Ex-User (250)]

until there's some decent night clubs opened, i think 1.30 is a good time to close them down, eveyone should be made drink coffee and eat ice-cream on temple bar square until someone comes up with a good idea for a club. note: shiny aluminium/coctails/z-list celeb djs has already been done!

 

[Bag'o'cans]

revolving dancefloors and monkey butlers

 

[sarah]

This is such bullshit! I very rarely actually go out clubbing clubbing, but I don't want
to be gently prodded home when your just getting started.
Do these online petitions actually have any effect or are the ones collected from
the street along with letters to the relevant authorities more effective?

 

[broken arm]

surely this wont go ahead.


though this might be cool.

it would be cool if we had anywhere 'underground' to go (Dublincentric perspective here). We have a lack of available space to run underground clubs. sigh

 

[Thayl]

Richard Brophy says:

"an online petition is one of the best if not the best way to express serious and organised opposition to a proposal by the goverenment and its agencies, ie the cops. Recently, the government weren't bothered that Irish would not be an officially recognised language in the EU, so some Gaeilgoiri got an online petiiton together and gathered over 40,000 online signatures.

The result? The government are now in turn petitioning the EU to make Irish one of its official languages, which in itself will create more employment - eg translators for Irish EU documents, speeches etc.

Similarly, there was an online petition on www.ticeidi.com about the Ticketmaster booking charge per ticket transaction. The result? The ticketing industry is currently being looked at by the Compeititon Authority. Online petions clearly pack a serious amount of politicial clout."

 

[ms.b.haven]

petitions so people can drink more? you'd be a complete idiot to think it'll work. this will definitely go ahead and you can blame the miniority of gobshites who can't hold their drink. thing is they'll just end up going out even earlier to get drunk so come 2010 another law will be enforced to close down ALL niteclubs

 

[It Will Never Last]

you can blame the miniority of gobshites who can't hold their drink.

Or you can blame the fat-ass, have another doughnut there Paddy Joe, excuse for a police force we have that has allowed Dublin become to shit-fest of a weekend.

What next, will they look to ban driving after 1.30am because they can't be arsed to enforce the rules of the road?

 

[moc]

funny enough i saw someone getting arrested on saturday night. it was the funniest thing ever, was off my tits though.... some mayo fella up for the match got into a scuffle and then legged it out in front of traffic across dame st. with two gardaí following. i heard the words 'you're under arrest' for the first time since i was 6 (rough estimate) playing cops and robbers

 

[Ex-User (250)]

which nightclubs in town do people here actually give a shit about?

 

[ms.b.haven]

i'd have totally agreed with you a year ago but now I know some people who are those fat-arse fuckers, and it’s not very fair to judge when you’re bias towards them. it's very easy for everyone to sit back and think they know what their talking about, i do it to as we all know, but it's tough. practically every night i go out i see a row that’s obviously drink-fuelled .

 

[moc]

which nightclubs in town do people here actually give a shit about?

i'll go anywhere thats open at half one if i'm after a pint.

 

[Ex-User (250)]

i'll go anywhere thats open at half one if i'm after a pint.

me too. i was just curious... but, you know when you're into doing that? and it gets to 3.30? and you wished you'd just gone home in anyways? no? neither do i...

 

[hugh]

come 2010 another law will be enforced to close down ALL niteclubs

That would be brilliant. I'll vote for any party that proposes this.

 

[It Will Never Last]

i'd have totally agreed with you a year ago but now I know some people who are those fat-arse fuckers, and it’s not very fair to judge when you’re bias towards them.

Biased? I've three blood relatives are cops, one in-law, one friend from school, and countless neighbours and ex-work colleagues.

Its because of that that I know how bad the fuckers are. Too busy providing "security" for film shoots to be stopping things like heroin dealing and granny batin'.

 

[broken arm]

which nightclubs in town do people here actually give a shit about?

are there any 'nightclubs' left at all??

anyway the problem is the government thinking that the solution to all societies ills is at the bottom of the legislative and taxation barrell. Tax the many for the actions of a few is a sign of poor governance. (new thought on policy and legislation looks to reducing the amount the legislative burden and using 'holistic' approaches to planning and policy etc yawn yawn)

 

[Thayl]

which nightclubs in town do people here actually give a shit about?

Electric City on a Thursday in The Metropolitan is very good. They've brought over Andy Weatherall, Dave Clarke, The Hacker, Speedy J, Alter Ego (this Thursday I believe), Ellen Allien and have always given local DJs good slots there too.

D1's Model 1 club on Friday in Traffic is another great club. They've brought over Octave One, Laurent Garnier, Aux Men, DJ Godfather, Mike Grant, Baby Ford, and countless Irish DJs also.

Loose Electrix are looking for a new venue right now but along with Neuromantek they've brought over Andrea Parker, Volum, Dan Curtin, The Youngsters, Dexorcist etc.

U:Mack are currently running nights the first Saturday of every month in The Shelter, they've got Venetian Snares playing there this Saturday and previous have had Radioactive Man, The Bug, DMX Krew, Plaid and in other venues they've put on Supercollider, loads of Warp Records acts (including Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Autechre).

Remedy run a lot of nights in the TBMC, Miss Kitten was on there last Saturday, they've got Jamie Lidell coming over again soon.

All of the above were put on in nightclubs/late opening venues and nights like these will be adversly affected if these new closing times come into effect.