How lap dancing clubs lower the tone and raise the crime rate

THE recent opening of a pole dancing club in Kilkenny generated considerable controversy.

Perhaps the only satisfactory way of knowing whether or not there is real cause for concern is to examine the evidence as objectively and dispassionately as possible.

People disagree about these forms of entertainment on religious or ethical or civil liberty grounds, but common ground can be provided by social science which helps us understand the conditions that either help or harm the formation of a good society.