Deputy Patrick Costello was today speaking as he hosted the ‘Give Us The Night’ in Leinster House for a briefing for political community.

He began, “In Government the Green Party, and in particular Minister Catherine Martin, have prioritised the arts and nightlife. We have established the hugely popular UBI scheme for artists and the nighttime economy taskforce. These measures have stabilised the night life industry and stemmed the flow of venue closures. We now need to promote growth and the main way we can do this is through reform of our licencing laws.”

He continued, “Minister McEntee published the General Scheme of the Sale of Alcohol Bill back in 2022. Her department have now decided to split that bill into two smaller bills. This has only led to further delay in this vital legislation. This is a Programme for Government commitment from 2020. Yet with time running out this parliamentary term it looks unlikely to me that we will even see first stage of that process.”

“The decline of this important sector can be seen in the decline of dancehalls and night venues. A government report in 1952 lists 1258 dance halls in the state. By 2000 that number had declined to 522. Today that number stands at 90.”

He concluded, “These laws are something we should have seen decades ago. If we see ourselves as a modern European country, we should have modern European laws. Dublin and Cork have the same needs as Berlin and Amsterdam. The Minister needs to recognise that fact.”