Mr. Sunil Sharpe:

One of the important points to make is that we want to change the culture, but we do not want to parachute in a culture that people fear, or do not know what to expect from it. There is this assumption that if licensing is changed, everywhere will open until a certain time and there will be chaos on the streets.

Senator Warfield mentioned visiting a school in Holland. I have played a great deal in Holland in many different places. I played in Maastricht earlier in the year where the promoter apologised for the club having to close so early at 5 a.m.

Irish venues have the earliest closing times by a long chalk. Socially, people have changed. There is a more cosmopolitan spread of people in Ireland now who expect different things as well. Many people coming here to work travel from other cities where have a night life worth speaking of. What has to change, which may take a little while to happen, is that the ideal scenario is someone, probably within the council, would operate similar to a licensing board. Officials could make considered and more democratic decisions on night life issues. That could involve deciding on what venues could stay open a little later or obtain that kind of licence. Obtaining licences probably should be under the remit of the District Court once a year. We do not believe that having to go to court once a month is a good idea. I could say a great deal about that system but none of it would be positive. We need to get rid of the system or at least let it sail away. It has no place in modern times and we need to create a couple of new licences but with more management. That could mean a night time commissioner or night mayor or whatever one would want to call that person, that is, somebody who would oversee night life and give it the love it deserves.