Any new licensing system must be fair & balanced – LVA
As part of the forthcoming reforms, the LVA will be seeking to have late-night trading hours extended to 5am seven nights a week. It will also be pressing for a 50% reduction in the costs of Late Night Licenses.
Currently each individual Late Night Licence includes a Government charge of €410 per day in the form of a Special Exemption Order as well as legal fees. For venues seeking to operate late-night for five nights a week, that can amount to additional government charges of €8,200 per month.
All late-night licensing charges must be paid upfront which is a significant cost for businesses who’ve not traded in 18 months.
The LVA has therefore called on the Government to waive these charges for the first six months after they resume business to assist their recovery. Over 300 late-night venues employing approximately 5,000 staff will have been kept closed for 585 days by the 22nd of October, the date they’re expected to reopen.
The LVA also cautioned that for the new licensing system to be a level playing field, then all venues should have to face the same requirements around planning, health and safety, fire safety, security and public liability.
“This reform of the licensing system is long overdue,” said LVA Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe, “The current system is archaic, bureaucratic and expensive. For many years now the LVA has been arguing that there’s no reason that a modern, vibrant city like Dublin can’t have a proper late-night economy. Permitting trading to run to 5am will facilitate a much more staggered approach when it comes to people going home instead of the majority of the public all being pushed out onto the streets at the same time.
“We also believe that the current system of securing late-night licenses is disproportionately expensive and we’ll be seeking a 50% cut in those Government charges as part of this process. Having to pay €410 per night, plus legal fees, for an additional two hours trading as permitted under the current system, simply isn’t justified,” he continued, “This would also allow smaller venues to compete in the late-night trade as they cannot justify the current costs. The majority of late bar operators would opt to trade to 2.30am under this approach.
“It’s also essential that any licensing reforms maintain a level playing field. You can’t have a system in place where it is possible to take a short-cut around existing licensing requirements such as those involving planning, fire safety, health and safety, public liability and security. There can’t be heavy restrictions placed on the pub sector while other venues can skirt around them or don’t implement them.
“The negative experience with theatre licences previously shows the potential for abuse. The unintended consequences of that system previously was that it created significant issues around unfair competition and for policing. We can’t have any new licensing regime that creates those same problems.
“We’re looking forward to engaging with the Government on these issues and the publication of the Nighttime Economy Taskforce report. Hopefully these reforms will allow for our night-time activity to modernise, ensuring Ireland’s famous nightlife is not limited to closing times which have no real bearing on a country with a 21st Century outlook,” he concluded.