Mr. Sunil Sharpe:

I thank Deputy Dillon for his question. An issue I have noticed, certainly since we joined the conversation on the night-time economy and nightlife industry with local authorities, is that many of the stakeholder groups are not involved from the start. Owners of restaurants, pubs and venues are not in the conversation and they should be, instead of being seen as just another business that is taxed to the hilt. They are treated almost like an enemy and sometimes there is not the level of alliance that there should be. In fairness to local authorities, they have reacted well in terms of waiving rates and whatnot, but the alliance needs to be strengthened as we move forward. We need to have local stakeholder forums that involve others who should be in the conversations, including residents and business groups. Health officials and the Garda also need to be involved.

Local authorities are, by default, the bodies that will host these engagements and they need to step up their game in terms of their role in promoting arts, culture, hospitality and so on. Some are good and some need to step up a little more and widen the remit of what they do in the area of culture and hospitality. We all saw a lot of scenes, many of them on social media, of what was happening on certain streets and in particular locations around the country. Nobody seemed to be taking responsibility for what was happening and, invariably, it was the pubs or venues involved that got the blame for everything. We need to ensure we do not go back to that kind of situation where everyone is gone AWOL and no one is taking responsibility. Ultimately, some of those particular stakeholders got the blame for everything. Everybody needs to work together and form these types of groups sooner rather than later. I hope that answers the Deputy's question.