New laws allow clubs in Ireland to stay open until 6am

New licensing laws in the Republic of Ireland will allow nightclubs to stay open until 06:00.

At present, venues have to close at 02:30, even with a Special Exemption Order (SEO) that they have to apply for at €410 per night. Clubs will now be permitted to serve alcohol until 05:00 with a license and remain open until 06:00.

If successful, the newly drafted licensing laws will also allow pubs to stay open until 00:30, seven days a week. Currently, they are only allowed to operate until 23:30 from Monday to Friday, with weekends limited to 12:30 – 23:00. There will be new standardised opening hours of 10:30 – 00:30 all week long under the new laws.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee will propose the Sale of Alcohol Bill to Cabinet and anticipates its approval from parliament in 2023. The new law will override several outdated laws that have kept Ireland way behind the rest of Europe, including the Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 and the Habitual Drunkards Act of 1879.

Speaking about the newly proposed bill, McEntee says: “It’s really about how do we consolidate what is a lot of complex laws and outdated laws, but also to make it easier for people to get into the industry, to make it easier for newcomers, young people, and to just create a better environment for our artists and our venues as well,”

The Sale of Alcohol Bill comes as great news to Give Us The Night (GUTN), co-founded by Sunil Sharpe, who have been lobbying the government for several years to bring Ireland’s night-time economy and culture out of the dark ages.