Ireland’s DJs and promoters want later opening hours for nightclubs

Ireland's DJs and promoters are calling for later opening hours for nightclubs.

Music industry volunteer group 'Give Us The Night' are trying to change the laws to allow nightclubs to open until 4 and 5am. They argue that small venues and club nights are struggling to run nights that last just three or four hours. Promoters have also said that the streets are likely to become quieter if clubs are opener later. Give Us The Night spokesperson, Sunil Sharpe, told NewsTalk Breakfast: 

"We've got the earliest closing times in Europe. "It varies between 2 and 3am throughout the country, with 3am being pretty much the latest. In that case, you have to be out of the club by 3am - the music would actually go off at 2.30am. "I don't expect everything to change drastically overnight, but even an extra few hours - two or three hours - beyond where it is now would be hugely beneficial to the night-time industry."

Give Us The Night held a meeting about their campaign yesterday evening. The group's website states:

"Currently our campaign is lobbying for sequential closing times between bars, late bars and nightclubs across Ireland and creating debate and logical discussion about licensing laws with a view to bringing in progressive Irish licensing laws for the whole country in the long term."