In 2004, Dubliner Sunil Sharpe was an emerging DJ, playing venues across Europe, when he noticed something wanting in Ireland.
“I was seeing how out-of-kilter our nightlife was with international nightlife ... you start to question why our own laws here in Ireland are so dated and haven’t been modernised in a way that other states have,” he says.
Today, Sharpe, who went on to found the Give Us The Night group in 2004 campaigning for reform, says Ireland is “just waiting in limbo” for new laws aimed at rectifying such shortfalls. While the Sale of Alcohol Bill was given government approval four years ago, it has yet to be passed.
Among other things, the Bill would help streamline licensing laws and extend opening hours for pubs and nightclubs.
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“We’re now in a situation where the nightclub industry, particularly, hasn’t moved anywhere in decades,” he says, explaining the need for more flexibility of opening hours.
“In some cases, the nightclub experience in Ireland is three hours. It’s 11pm ’til 2am. In my view, that’s not an experience. It’s part of an experience. We’re half doing nightlife here in Ireland.
“For about six or seven years, it’s been on the political agenda as something that the governments are interested in doing and now for the last few years, after them doing their consultation, getting the legislation ready, we’re just all waiting.”
Sharpe believes the law will change, “but on whose watch, I don’t know”.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Fine Gael councillor Dan Carson is calling for “a very clear timeline for its passage of implementation”. Carson, a young councillor who has taken an interest in the area, says the Bill, which received cabinet approval in 2022, proposes to extend the standard pub closing time until 12.30am, late-night opening of bars until 2.30am and nightclubs until 6am. A new cultural licence is also proposed for museums, galleries and theatres.
He claims the Bill has “gone missing” and has “effectively been shelved.” And yet an extension of nightclub opening hours, he argues, would help spread the demand on transport systems and “absolutely” help the nightlife trade.
“Since 2000, Ireland has lost over 80 per cent of its nightclubs, it’s gone down from about 520 to approximately 82 venues,” he says. “Ireland has the youngest population in the EU but some of the most restrictive licensing laws in Europe” He adds that reform will support employment, tourism and social infrastructure in cities and towns.
Addressing the issue, the Department of Justice says the programme for government commits to updating Ireland’s licensing laws and, “in line with this commitment, this will be progressed”.
Its spring legislative programme, setting out 30 priority Bills for publication, notes that “certain key reforms” in the Sale of Alcohol Bill 2022 will be incorporated into the Intoxicating Liquor Bill.
“Other legislative projects will be taken forward in subsequent iterations of the legislative programme, to be determined by Government in due course.”
Meanwhile, Donall O’Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), says he is “very disappointed” the Bill has taken so long to pass, stressing its importance to the viability of the late-night economy.
Currently, pubs must apply for a special exemption to allow them to open for an additional two hours of trading at a cost of €205 per night. For a bar to open late, three nights a week for a year, O’Keeffe points out, would cost €32,000 annually plus legal fees. “A capital city should have late-night options.”
However, Dr Sheila Gilheany, chief executive of Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), an independent advocate group for reducing alcohol harm, says she is “very concerned” with proposals under the Bill.
“When you make alcohol more widely available, whether it’s through longer licensing hours or through a greater number of venues, you inevitably have more alcohol being consumed and the difficulty with that is that there are many harms that actually come from that.”
She says research AAI has published found that extending trading times by one hour means a likely 34 per cent increase in alcohol-related injuries requiring hospital treatment; a 30 per cent increase in traffic collisions in rural areas; and a 16 per cent increase in alcohol-related crime.
The AAI questions the proposal of a cultural license where alcohol could be served at cultural events, because it implies they “require alcohol to make them a success”. She says such a move would reduce the amount of family-friendly places and put pressure on those in recovery from addiction.
She also notes data from Healthy Ireland’s annual surveys last year found 78 per cent of the 15 to 24 age group drank alcohol, an increase from 66 per cent in 2016.
“There are very serious issues here,” she argues, pointing out that, according to a report published by AAI with data from the 2025 Healthy Ireland Survey, 43,000 young people aged 15 to 24 live with alcohol dependencies.
“There is a narrative out there that says that alcohol is not a big problem, but alcohol is by far Ireland’s largest drug problem.”
