The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) has said findings from the new Dublin City Council survey on the night-time economy show the need to advance the recommendations by the Dublin Taskforce and for the Government to bring forward their proposed Intoxicating Liquor Bill.
The ‘Citizen Survey Report Night-Time Economy’ conducted on behalf of Dublin City Council shows that only 1 in 3 people feel safe in the city centre at night. While 63% say they would like to see better safety at night and 55% are in favour of improved night-time transport. Only 16% of people believe there is good public transport available between midnight and 6am.
The LVA says measures included in the Dublin Taskforce Recommendations would specifically help address these public concerns, such as the provision of an additional 1,000 Gardaí for Dublin and the development of an improved Dublin City Centre Transport Plan. However despite the recommendations having been published 6 months ago, little action has been taking to make these a reality.
“These survey results show the concerns of the public match the issues highlighted by Dublin publicans and others operating across the city,” said Donall O’Keeffe, CEO of the LVA. “We need to make our streets safer and we need to provide better transport at night. It should be acknowledged that Garda visibility in town has started to improve recently, but for public perceptions and concerns to be addressed that presence needs to sustained for the night-time economy in the long term.
“Monday will mark six months since the Dublin Taskforce published their recommendations, yet there has been little to no progress turning these commitments into reality. The Government went out of their way to emphasise that meaningful action couldn’t be taken to address the issues affecting Dublin until the Taskforce had reported. It’s now been half a year since that process was complete, so what’s their current excuse?”
The Dublin City Council survey also showed that 78% of people believe Dublin’s nightlife is poorer than cities they have visited abroad. Berlin, a city which famously has no official closing time, was regarded as the best European city for nightlife by 42% of the public, followed by London (36%), Amsterdam (29%) and Barcelona (26%).
2 out of 3 people believe that more night-time options are needed in Dublin City Centre and 6 out 10 want more night-time options where they live. Additionally, 4 out of 5 people (79%) say the night-time economy is important to the overall Dublin economy and 7 out of 10 believe the night-time economy makes a positive contribution to Dublin’s cultural life.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in Government promised to help fix the night-time economy by modernising the licensing laws. They could do that and help improve the night-time options available to the public if they simply followed through on what they started and enacted their promised ‘Intoxicating Liquor Bill’. We were informed that legislation was ready to be published by Easter 2024, yet one year later it is yet to see the light of day.
“As the survey shows the vast majority of people believe the night-time economy makes a positive contribution to Dublin’s cultural life. The Government’s continued inaction on these reforms indicate this isn’t a view they share. We are calling on them to be fair and set out their clear intentions about when they will advance these promised licensing reforms, clearing up the uncertainty and enabling improved night time options,” Mr. O’Keeffe concluded.