Mr. Sunil Sharpe:

Yes, absolutely. It is one of the main things we are pushing for with our campaign. Now, as the dust settles after Covid-19, there has been a lot of talk about the Roaring Twenties. Everybody probably expects that when nightlife resumes there will be a new level of engagement in the night-time economy that perhaps was not there a couple of years ago. I am not sure, however, how long that roar will last. It could die down very quickly within a couple of months. At that point we will need to allow people to decide what they want from night-time events rather than having very restrictive times imposed on them. Being able to add more flexibility to what they do and offer will be crucial for businesses.

There is a lot of talk about multipurpose spaces. We can see this in yesterday's report on rural Ireland and some of the policies that may come in there. If we are considering multipurpose spaces and different businesses sharing spaces it will be vital to have flexibility, part of which will involve the opening hours. We would absolutely be behind this, but in different parts of the State and various cities it would depend on whether there was more demand. All types of spaces should be able to operate as far as customer demand is there.

It does not all have to revolve around the sale of alcohol. There has been much discussion on alcohol and how people may react to alcohol during Covid times, which is one of the reasons we are likely to have restrictive times in the short term. Over time, however, we need to be ready to lift those restrictions and be ready to move into the future with a more open and flexible approach.