BY CJ MCGINLEY
NIGHTCLUB owners across Donegal yesterday (Thursday) gave a broad welcome to a compromise deal on licence extensions following a court ruling on Wednesday.
Six out of nine Donegal nightclub owners agreed to a compromise restriction of 2am over St Patrick's weekend and Easter while two others in Letterkenny, Milan and Sister Sarah's along with the Abbey Hotel in Donegal had the deal imposed on them after an appeal at a Circuit Court hearing in Donegal Town.
The proprietors of The Pulse, Letterkenny, The Astoria Wharf, Jumpin' Jack's, Paris and Fusion in Bundoran and Pier One in Donegal Town all agreed a bar closing time of 2 am suggested by Judge John O'Hagan. However, Milan and Sister Sara's in Letterkenny and the Abbey Hotel refused the compromise and went ahead to have their appeals heard on Wednesday.
However, after Judge John O'Hagan viewed a 20 minute video of what Superintendent Vincent O'Brien described as a "typical Saturday night" in Letterkenny, the judge imposed the 2 am closing time on the other three nightclubs. Judge O'Hagan stressed he was not blaming the nightclubs for all the public order offences but drink was a constant problem and said somebody had to 'shout stop and take some steps to try and control it'
"Maybe half an hour will make no difference but we have to start somewhere," he said adding the whole community had to work together to deal with the problem..
Judge O'Hagan ordered the nightclubs to close early after hearing evidence of growing public order problems including the 20 minute video showing scenes of someone urinating on the street and man kicking another in a doorway while another lay almost comatose on the street with friends trying to lift him. Having viewed the video Judge O'Hagan said it provided "overwhelming evidence" of problems caused by the amount of late night drinking.
Speaking to the Donegal News Superintendent Vincent O'Brien said the 2am restriction was a start in the right direction against the problem of late night drinking, assaults and public order offences.
"The statistics all over the country show that by cutting the closing time back by half an hour will reduce public order offences by at least 16 per cent. I'm confident it will reduce it in Letterkenny. We are now looking forward to working with the nightclubs on the implementation of the new licensing hours," he said.
Superintendent O'Brien stressed there were over 1,061 public order offences in the Letterkenny area last year and 264 assaults. In Sligo where the closing time was 2am last year there was 509 public order and less than half the number of assaults. In Letterkenny alone last year there were 60 arrests over the St Patrick's weekend.
"Alcohol is a huge contributory factor particularly over the St Patrick's weekend when there is a large number of people celebrating in the town," Superintendent O'Brien said.
Speaking to the Donegal News a spokesman for the nightclubs in Donegal welcomed the compromise. Nightclub owners were livid last week when Gardai sought to reduce the extensions to 1.30am. They claimed this would have a devastating effect on their business and the livelihoods of over 800 people employed in the industry in Letterkenny.
"Nightclub owners are generally satisfied with the compromise that has been reached. We felt the blame for the binge drinking culture that is happening in our society was being left on our door. However, the real problem is the issue of below cost selling of drink in supermarkets and off licences. Sales in pubs and nightclubs are down yet the off licence and supermarket trade is growing," a spokesman for the nightclub owners said yesterday.
"There is strong evidence to suggest a link between the rise in off licence sales and public order offences. Everyone knows that people are spending more time socialising in their home where drink can be bought cheaper in supermarkets and off licences. How can we compete with supermarkets that are selling 24 bottles of miller for less than 50 per cent of the price that we can buy them from the wholesaler,"
"The 1.30am restriction, if it had gone ahead, would have had a devastating effect on the business. It would also have unfairly penalised the mature drinkers who behave responsibly because they would be forced out of the pubs and left on the street with people exiting nightclubs. It would have been madness. The 1.30 am restriction would have exacerbated the public order problem instead of easing it. Are we going to end up with the dark old days of the tank up culture in pubs and nightclubs because of restrictions," the spokesman said.
The nightclub owners warned it was time the government addressed the growing culture of drinking at home.
"This trend has developed over recent years and due to cost and restrictions people are being driven to stay in their home drinking in a totally uncontrolled environment. We feel the 2am closing was a sensible compromise. Everybody in our business agrees to people going out and going home at a reasonable time. However, we have strong reservations whether or not the restriction will curb public order offences," the spokesman concluded.
Nine nightclubs had appealed the 1.30 am bar closing time imposed by Judge Desmond Zaidan at the District Court last week. The nightclubs had applied for a number of special exemptions for the month of March, until 2.30 am.
Letterkenny based Garda Superintendent Vincent O'Brien objected to the extended bar opening times "on behalf of the people of Letterkenny" who wanted the gardai to address anti-social behaviour, drunkenness and on-street violence.
Speaking yesterday
Last week the Chamber Commerce in Letterkenny came out strongly against the 1.30 am restriction. In a strongly worded statement the Chamber said Letterkenny had hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
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