Closing pubs and clubs early just moves the party elsewhere and removes the safety net

Ireland has the youngest population in the EU, but with fewer venues than 25 years ago. And when clubs shut early, the party goes elsewhere — often at the expense of safety, writes Aoife Imray

The number of late-night venues nationwide went from 522 in 2000 to 83 today.

Irish students have a problem. Our club scene hates us.

Coming to Cork at 18, I expected to dance until 5am, and stumble out onto the street to the rising sun — unable to understand how it was morning. That’s the goal, and it’s one of the quintessential rites of passage of your early 20s. 

But we don’t get that here. While we’re walking out of the clubs at 2.30am, the night is only starting in Berlin, Paris and London just across the pond.

But Cork is not quite Paris. I could’ve accepted this, but then I spoke to the young people of Dublin. The big smoke, the European hub. They’re out on the streets at 2am just like us. 

The promised land of late nights was suffering the same fate. Every young person here is in the same boat. It’s not hard to see why: the nearly 200-year-old Licensing Acts that govern us, real estate buyouts, inflation, taxes, and everything else our government inflicts on us. 

Ireland has the youngest population in the EU, yet the number of venues nationwide went from 522 in 2000 to 83 today. These laws mean that to have a really good night, the one you’ll remember in 10 years' time, you have to get creative.

The young people of Limerick have become creative. Students know it, and say it in hushed whispers on campus. Limerick is just wilder.

Maybe it’s the structure of their student housing, arranged as estates with less security. Or the percentage of students in the general population, with Limerick at a little over 32% while Cork is at 17%.

Cork has more late venues, with around 40,000 students, while Limerick has nearly half the venues and around 32,000 students. This sounds great for Cork, until you’ve paid your entry into the nightclub and it’s deserted. The same night in Limerick, the place is packed with people squeezing in the door.

If we look at the student-led clothing and events company 'Seven Am', you can see the stark difference between Limerick and Cork. This September they threw two near identical events on subsequent days in Cork and Limerick. 

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In Cork, the venue was nearly empty despite the best efforts of the organisers. The next night in Limerick it couldn’t have been busier, with queues outside the door and a packed dancefloor.

You might say that was just one night, but you wouldn't have considered College Christmas: the crown jewel in the social calendar of an Irish student. 

I would try to claim one symbolic victory here for the students of Cork as the event is said to have originated in UCC but I’m sure there will always be a student in Limerick ready to contest that. And I’m sure there are many Limerick students ready to tell me just how much more insane Limerick gets on College Christmas.

The day makes sense. Logically, if the clubs close early, we should go out earlier. Even if this means you’re lined up at 8am for the pub, hoping you’re not the unlucky one who the guards choose as their example. 

Munster is the stronghold of the College Christmas tradition. We don’t have the nightlife of Dublin, but limitation breeds creativity — and that can be seen every November — especially in Limerick.

When College Christmas is over, students still crave nightlife. Not every 9am lecture can be missed for the sake of a hidden drink in the queue. And so, the afters have become a sacrament. 

Aoife Imray: 'The early closures of pubs and clubs don’t mean the night ends early. It means they end in private spaces with no safety net.'

In Limerick, I have encountered poachers of afters the likes of which I’ve never seen. There is no going home until one is found. I knew a girl who roamed through a student estate until she saw an afters through a window, happy to knock on the door and ask if there was room for two more.

While the mythical afters is all well and good, it wouldn’t be fair to ignore the problems that come with it. The clubs are closed, and you find yourself in someone's friend’s friend’s kitchen where hygiene is conceptual only. It's funny, until it’s not, and you realise there’s no security here. 

And that you don’t actually know these people. And 21 is too young to know what to do when someone you don’t know overdoses on cocaine.

That’s the real effect of our laws here. The early closures of these pubs and clubs don’t mean the night ends early. It means they end in private spaces with no safety net.

Limerick, a dark horse, has captured lightning in a bottle with their current nightlife scene. Despite the same restrictions as anywhere else, they have developed a reputation. But, it comes at an expense. And that is the safety of our young people.