Night-time economy
Campaigners are calling for the reform and modernisation of the night-time industry to help in the recovery.
Lobby group 'Give Us The Night' has published a nine-point plan to create a sustainable night-time economy in Ireland.
These include amending trading hours, establishing a national task force, and also abolishing special exemption orders.
Our 9-point plan to help steer the night-time economy and events sector through these difficult times. Read through the thread for each point or directly to full thing here https://t.co/HMt3ZZ7yQf #giveusthenight pic.twitter.com/49A4PRHxhW
— Give Us The Night (@GiveUsTheNight) May 7, 2020
The nine-points are as follows:
- Establish National Task Force: Government should setup a national task force to deal with the fast-changing threat of COVID-19 on business, and to rebuild what will be a totally different industry.
- Stakeholder Workshops: Stakeholders, from all corners of the industry, should give their collective feedback on how to restart and sustain business, as we move into a new and uncertain future.
- Amend Trading Hours: We didn't think it would take something as disastrous as COVID-19 to force a change to trading hours, but there is simply no choice but to quickly change the system now for all involved.
- Codification and Modernisation of Venue Licensing: The licensing laws are an over-complicated, outdated mess. They need an overhaul as soon as possible. A specific government bill on these lines was started over 15 years ago but was mysteriously never published.
- Abolish Special Exemption Orders: A fee system applied to any venue that wishes to operate after standard pub hours. A system operated by just one European country: Ireland. Abused by successive governments + did irreparable damage to nightlife, esp. nightclubs. Needs to go.
- Filling The Festival Void: The largest chunk that can be removed out of the events + entertainment calendar, is effectively gone for 2020. Performers, staff, traders, service providers and so on can be redeployed to new work + help rebuild the local venue and events circuit.
- Supporting Youth Culture: Ireland is full of talent and youthful energy, but needs more ways to channel it. By restricting our events market + creative communities so much this leads to an erasure of art, music + social gatherings, that do so much for our collective well-being
- Planning: Pop-Up Events, Zoning and Multi-Use Spaces: Analysing how we currently use buildings, land and public space for events, and how we develop a new vision towards using our space(s) effectively.
- Effective State Support for Night Culture: There are a number of ways that government can quickly help the events market when it restarts, and that is to put state owned/funded venues to more regular use.
Pubs are expected to be allowed reopen on August 10th which will also be phase five of the easing of restrictions.
To read the plan by Give Us The Night you can view it in full here.
