Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I know this is in the realm of justice, but it also very much intersects with mental health and well-being.

Cultural and social activity at night in Ireland has been teetering on the precipice of extinction for the past two decades. Access to dance spaces in Ireland is at an all-time low. We have the earliest closing times in Europe and some of the most archaic licensing laws. The number of nightclubs in the country has dropped by more than 80%, from 522 in 2001 to an estimated 90 today, which is just 0.6% of liquor licence holders. The few remaining late-night venues in the country are confronting an existential crisis, desperate to keep their doors open. Late-night operators face many challenges including soaring operating costs, particularly rising insurance premiums. As campaigners, most notably the Give Us the Night campaign, have repeatedly highlighted in recent years, spaces to gather, socialise and dance after midnight are being eroded at an alarming rate, particularly since changes to licensing laws in 2008. People across the country, young and old, are utterly starved of places to socialise and deprived of meaningful connection.

The Government has recognised the need for reform to support a thriving night-time economy in our towns and cities, and has promised imminent legislative solutions to some of the problems faced by the industry throughout this Oireachtas. Despite feeling like we were moving in a positive direction, reform still evades our grasp. The Government first announced that drafting was under way to reform licensing laws in 2021. A public consultation followed in late 2021, receiving 5,000 responses. The general scheme of the sale of alcohol Bill was published in 2022 and the Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny in early 2023. Now, in 2024, we still await publication of the Bill.

The Minister stated recently that she would bring forward a separate Bill with targeted reforms addressing opening hours and the more archaic aspects of the laws. The Minister advised about this intoxicating liquor Bill. I would question the wording of the Bill and the joining of them together. It creates an unfair link when we think of intoxicating liquor because we are also talking about culture, togetherness, community and stuff like that. There is still no sign of that Bill being published in quarter 3. Extensive work has been done by the night-time economy task force, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from Government Departments and the Garda, over the past four years. There should be a solid foundation from which to advance this legislation now. Given that the reforms promised by the sale of alcohol Bill are modest - for example, they do not address the many barriers to entry for operators - it is concerning that even more modest reforms are being planned at this time.

Late night social and cultural spaces and the connections facilitated within them are needed more than ever. At the Irish Medical Organisation’s conference earlier this year, Professor Matthew Sadlier described the developing mental health crisis with regard to the impacts of social media use, particularly among young people. In the absence of social and cultural infrastructure, we are depriving young people of the opportunity to engage with one another offline, outside of phone screens and social media. It is hard to check your Instagram when you are having fun on the dancefloor. Speaking of dancefloors, as someone who made their way from Tallaght to town, I can say that the only other time we went from Tallaght to town in the 1990s was to Henry Street to get our Christmas clothes. That was until we were old enough to be able to engage in the nightlife, the rave scene and the dancefloors. Much like football, dancing is a great equaliser. It is an amazing way to break down barriers between classes, ethnicity and race. It was definitely one of the biggest eye openers for me as a young person coming from Tallaght to be surrounded by different people at different times. We are losing that connection with each other. We see this in the rise of awful attacks on people who do not look like us or sound like us and on those from the LGBTQ+ community. A dancefloor is always a great place to be able to bring people together and to avoid what we have seen in recent years.