Mr. Sunil Sharpe:

I thank the committee for having us here. Give Us The Night is an independent volunteer group whose primary purpose has been to achieve fair conditions for night time venues. Night time is about bringing together communities, enjoying unique experiences and in many cases being inspired to create challenging art and music. Night time is a magical time that so many of us live for. We want to live like the rest of Europe, but instead we are living in a no man's land, where in order to open, venues must apply for nightly special exemption orders rather than being granted their own specific annual licence. We are still operating under this bizarre legislation from the last century that does not meet modern requirements.

The infrastructure supporting venues in Ireland is wholly inadequate. The system is set up to penalise any venue that wants to operate beyond standard pub hours and the costs are extortionate. It is €410 per night, plus legal fees, for any venue, regardless of size, to open. This price was fixed in 2008 by Fianna Fáil and has been continued by Fine Gael. Venues have been priced out of the market. Special exemption order applications are down 55% since 2008 and dance licences are down 46%. Ireland, famed for its dancing culture, is for the most part prevented from dancing after dark. This is an issue that has been neglected by the Department of Justice and Equality and needs to be rectified.

This is not just about dancing. It is about opening our main urban centres later to move us into line with other European countries. Why do theatres, galleries, coffee shops, restaurants or even markets not open later? Why is there not a business model for them to open, considering that gyms open 24 hours and bus routes are now beginning to operate for 24 hours? Despite having record levels of tourism, we are ejecting people from our towns and cities at artificially early times, also putting excessive pressure on transport services and gardaí. No other European country does it like this.

Licensing is unavoidable in the conversation about music and night-time culture. The knock-on effect to performers and staff is catastrophic when a venue has to shut down. Many talented people around Ireland, young and old, do not have anywhere suitable to perform or work anymore. The vast majority of qualified sound engineers do not have regular work and would currently be lucky to find any work in this country. We once had working showbands becoming stars around Ireland, when there was a nationwide venue circuit worth talking about. We can have that again, and more people can earn a living here and will pay more taxes here. Instead the primary focus of Government, councils and tourist boards is event tourism, in the shape of large-scale concerts and festivals. This results in a gig economy that is sporadic and unpredictable. Supporting local venues and ongoing community-led events will lead to a more vibrant night-time economy.

Once upon a time we built dancehalls, we had cinemas next to our local shops, and we had various places for young people to come together and create real-life communities. Multi-purpose spaces are now commonplace around Europe. These spaces are not just a pub or a club, but operate as different types of facilities from day through to night, for the local community as well as for visitors. These spaces can operate as an art gallery or coffee shop by day and transform into a performance space or dance club by night. The licensing system for venues is mean-spirited, anti-business, anti-music and anti-culture. It is a form of censorship, which is not surprising, since the legislation relating to venues was more or less written by the Catholic church in the 1930s.

We propose the reintroduction of the theatre licence for late night cultural and music events, or a variation of this licence to be called a culture licence or a night-venue licence. We also suggest the introduction of a multi-use licence for all types of cultural, artistic and business activities under the same roof. We cannot underestimate the value of the night-time economy. The UK values its nightlife at £66 billion per year, while Berlin values its club industry alone at €1.5 billion per year. Similarly, we should value the creative minds and entrepreneurship that emerge from the dance floor. Electric Picnic was spawned from an internationally-renowned Dublin nightclub and became an essential Irish cultural event like no other.

Local development plans need to follow through on what they say. The Dublin City Council development plan states “there is a need to facilitate the concept of the 24-hour city, particularly in the city centre and other key district centres". It also states that it seeks to "promote and support a vibrant night culture in the city centre that attracts a diverse range of cultural activity and is attractive for a wide range of age groups". Given the vast number of key venue closures recently times, does Dublin City Council believe that the city has a vibrant night culture?

The Minister, Deputy Josepha Madigan, and her Department are in the early stages of developing a policy on night-time culture. She has cited different areas where changes could be made, such as licensing and planning, and has also discussed the creation of a night mayor to manage night-time activities. Given the growing lack of access to cultural and music-based activities at night, we would like this committee to do all in its power to get behind this initiative. We also propose that the Government commission a report on the night-time economy as soon as possible, that can forecast the potential impact on local economies around the country, should we reform the structure around nightlife.

We are at a critical point. An important cultural change must take place that recognises modern culture and communities and what they expect going into 2020.