Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I will try to be quick. I just have so many thoughts. The first is that seeking to define what constitutes culture is such a shady area to try to get into. Either Mr. Kitt or Mr. Sharpe spoke about the lack of diversity. In Temple Bar, our new communities, our migrant communities, our different populations, are not being served. The traditional Irish pub setting is not necessarily for a new Ireland either. Maybe we are a hanging on a bit to how things were to ensure the continued existence of the institution of the Irish pub, when that is probably not a draw for people any more in the wider, general sense. Someone mentioned community centres. I am thinking of intercultural centres in communities that probably want to hold their own events with their own communities and with their own styles of music. Not everybody wants to spend time in Temple Bar listening to traditional Irish music as if they were American tourists. I definitely do not enjoy that. I might be a bit nostalgic for the 1990s. In the 1990s, when we came into town from Tallaght, which felt like a million miles away at the time in terms of transport, we would have been willing to walk halfway home in our bare feet from the Tivoli and various other venues because we enjoyed them so much. Of course people have to protect their livelihoods, but somehow the conversation today feels like it is very much led by protecting the business owner and maybe not listening to the changing nature of cultural trends in a country that is trying to tell its providers that we need different, that we need something else. We will travel to the city centres, we will find transport and we will advocate for ways to get in and out if what is on offer is what we are looking for. So many people from suburban parts of Dublin will not go into town because there is nothing on offer to keep them there. They are not willing to rush out to the street at midnight and spend hours trying to get a taxi, but they might be willing if they know that the nightclub industry is booming again and is willing to have that more phased out approach to people going home. That will pull in those from areas of Dublin that are not near the city centre.

I have one question. Mr. O'Keeffe mentioned a few times the potential of people coming in through a back door, as he said. He stated that they should be subject to the same fire protection, commercial rates and planning regulations. Is he saying that those industries would be exempt from proper planning and safety measures or commercial rates? I am just wondering what Mr. O'Keeffe's fear is. I would assume that safety standards are required across the board, regardless of the type of service provided or the time at which it is provided.