INIA chief executive says Liquor Act ruins business

national | consumer issues | news report Tuesday November 18, 2008 17:09 by Claire Kane - n/a freelance journalist claire1kane at hotmail dot com

this story is based on an e-mail interview i conducted with the chief executive of the Irish Nightclub Association about the Irish Intoxicating Liquor act which came into affect on the 30th of July 2008.

the story highlights the effect the act has been having on Irish business.

Chief executive of The Irish Nightclubs Industry Association (INIA), Barry O’ Sullivan, has this week claimed that the Intoxicating Liquor Act, passed in July 2008, is having serious implications on Irish business.

In a time when business should be protected, Mr O’Sullivan has claimed that the Nightclub Industry has been suffering due to the recently passed act: “My family business is Club in Temple Bar, this time last year it was operating 7 nights a week, currently it is only trading 4 nights a week.”

The act states that clubs must close at half two every night and that they must pay large fees to obtain a nightclub licence. It is the latter which concerns Mr O’ Sullivan the most: “People talk about how expensive it is to do business in Ireland. In the UK for the same late night license, a Nightclub pays approximately €2000, in Ireland this costs €150,000, plus about another €15000 in legal fees.”

This follows widespread protests and demonstrations against the act voicing the concern that Irish business could be adversely affected by the change in law. Mr O’ Sullivan highlighted this by stating that the regulations not only affect his own trade but the entire world of enterprise in the country, Particularly in Dublin, where the tourism and transport industries often thrive on the city’s nightlife: “It is our capital city, we compete for international tourism, and putting such an artificially early closing time, hampers our ability to compete for the leisure tourist. This not only effects clubs, but hotels, restaurants, pubs, taxis, retail, tourist attractions etc. It is simply bad for Irish business.”

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