WHILE licensing laws are set to be liberalised, people in the trade in Clare say it is unlikely to have much impact on business in the county.
Pubs are set to be allowed to open until 12.30am every day of the week, removing the need to close at 11.30 from Monday to Thursday and at 11 on Sundays. Nightclubs are set to be allowed to stay open until 6am.
Chairman of the Clare branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland Charlie O’Meara said it is unlikely that the change will make much impact on pubs in the county.
“There are so many pubs that are just trying to keep their doors open at the moment, with the overheads, and even trying to staff them is hard. Bringing in opening until 12.30, I don’t think it’s going to make a major difference in rural Ireland.”
He said that even in Ennis, many pubs are already closing two or three nights a week.
“The two main nights we’d be doing business are on Friday and Saturday nights, they’re already 12.30. Leaving a pub open until 12.30 on a Sunday night isn’t going to be a game changer for anyone’s business,” he added.
Mr O’Meara acknowledged that in coastal areas like Kilkee and Lahinch, the move might have a positive impact during summer months.
However, he said that the real beneficiaries would be bars in places like Temple Bar, where there are always visitors coming.
“It’s good to have the option, that if you want to stay open until 12.30 you can, but in the current climate it’s not something that’s going to make a huge difference.
“Trying to staff a pub at the moment is one of the big problems, and there’s the cost of doing business on top of that. Staying open until 12.30 if you’re not busy, it could be costing you money. For a lot of businesses it certainly wouldn’t be viable at the moment,” he added.
Gerry Fitzgerald is one of the owners of the Claremont nightclub in Lahinch and he said that few nightclubs are likely to stay open until 6am regardless of any changes in legislation.
“Realistically it’s only suitable for cities and large urban areas. Places such as Lahinch wouldn’t have the infrastructure in place.”
Extending the opening hours would mean a number of things would need to be looked at.
“With any changes like that you have a lot to consider. You have to consider the transport, the policing, the safety of your customers and staff and you have to consider the community as well, in a village like Lahinch, which is similar to a lot of areas around the country.”
He feels that it won’t be a runner for most businesses in the sector.
“In discussions with others in similar situations around the country, they were all in agreement that opening until 5 or 6 o’clock isn’t something that they’d be interested in.
“The infrastructure just wouldn’t be in place. As it is, at 2.,30 or 3am people have to get home, you don’t want people wandering around the streets at 5 or 6 in the morning wondering how they’re going to get home.
“The 2.30 is very workable, we’re not even at that, we’d finish at 1.30 or 2am, but 5am or 6am is very unrealistic, it isn’t really something we’d be considering and I’m sure it’s the same with a lot of other places.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.