Mr. Sunil Sharpe:

I will go back to the theatre licence. The reason clubs and pubs went for that was that it meant they could stay open later and serve alcohol late. The underlying reason one gets a theatre licence is because one is providing performance and entertainment, performance being the main one. Committees or individuals appointed to grant these licences should see the venue is actually undertaking its responsibilities by providing entertainment. The theatre licence was abused by many venues to just serve alcohol until late. There would have to be more rigid control of that if it was reintroduced for late-night venues. This is why it needs more personnel working on it. One judge and a garda cannot keep on top of all this. That is another reason we need more people working on this.

We have already seen the example of a multi-use space. Central Arts Waterford is an example of it. On another level, Bodytonic, even before The Bernard Shaw, created the prototype with the Twisted Pepper. It is now working on a larger scale with Jam Park, along with District 8, the event promoter. They are putting on all types of daytime, evening-time and night-time events. Again, they are restricted and they need a separate type of licence under which they can operate. Otherwise, they could close as well.

Councils need to protect our spaces as well. The Tivoli Theatre was bulldozed. It was an important cultural space in Dublin for many communities and generations. It was thriving but it was knocked down. The amount of potential that place had was incredible. We talk much about artist studios. Upstairs in the Tivoli there was much space. Somebody with a bit of vision could have done something to it. I understand the owner’s reasons for wanting to sell and I know councils are short of money and cannot necessarily throw it away on venues. Maybe we need to think about this before we allow these places to be bulldozed as easily as they are.