This afternoon.
Give Us The Night is an ‘independent volunteer group of professionals operating within the night-time industry’.
Buzz writes:
‘Irish venues, nightclubs and music events are being disregarded, and more closures are certain if this continues. We wrote to Micheal Martin, Leo Varadkar and Catherine Martin, laying out a range of necessary measures to help our industry reopen safely and swiftly.’
1. A guarantee of non-socially distanced trial events in September irrespective of COVID-19 case numbers.
2. A lifting of the ban on dancing at all live events (indoors and outdoors), to take effect as soon as possible.
3. A lifting of the ban on live and loud music.
4. The significant expansion of public testing services, to offer a range of free PCR and antigen tests for the public, ensuring increased safety against any possible outbreaks of COVID-19 at events.
5. A starting date for all live events (with the removal of social distancing) including music venues and nightclubs, no later than the beginning of October.
6. Licensing law reform (announced in February) to be advanced as a matter of urgency to meet the needs of heavily challenged night-time venues after they reopen.
7. In the intervening time, reinstatement of ‘late’ opening should happen as soon as possible to create much-needed staggered closing between restaurants, bars and venues, putting less pressure on public transport and increasing public safety. We reject the idea of nightclubs having to become fully-fledged pubs with table service in order to do business. This is not an option for most nightclubs, whose market is post-midnight.
8. Special exemption order fees to be waived entirely for venues currently in possession of a dance licence. This will help these venues as they recover from the last 17 months of shutdown, while entering a new period in time when business will be very unpredictable.
9. Assurance that events and venues will not have to close immediately if COVID-19 case numbers rise in the future. Closures should be an absolute last resort. A tiered scaling back on numbers and closing times, and reintroduction of social distancing, should be explored before any blanket closures.
10. Acknowledgement from the Government that a continued shutdown of events and entertainment venues will result in an upsurge of unregulated events, increasing the chance of the virus spreading this winter. Last winter became house party season, a trend that is becoming an ongoing threat to the entertainment and hospitality industries that may lead to an increased cultural shift over the next year, and further issues in residential areas.
11. Government funded training for event and venue staff to deal with the challenges of enforcing COVID-19 regulations.
12. Clear direction to be given to indoor music venues on ventilation. A grant scheme to aid the cost and installation of required systems should be established.
13. Local authorities to assist venues by permitting the use of adjoining or nearby outdoor space for events. Consideration should also be given to erect weather-friendly marquees and tents in selected areas, diversifying the range of locations that can be used in the evening and at night, and empowering local event organisers to plan ahead with more certainty.
Will no one think about the unvaxxed ‘reveller’?
FIGHT!
So are they saying antigen test for the unvaxxed to allow entry?
Seems fair if they are.
yeah but shhhhhh! wouldya
see the trough monkeys here won’t get their gravy anymore if we allow them dem dirty Antigen tests in the door
I’m in Germany presently…over here they are handed out FREE like confetti in some places and are accepted for entry in nearly any normal circumstance I can think of…including arrivals at the airport
there are some simple answers here to the explosion of rage that’s about to happen, Antigen testing would be a great way I think to open up in a reasonable way for all but it definitely suits someone or something locally to keep the disaster rumbling along like this
that sounds grand, but a bit more complicated than everyone just getting vaccinated and be done with it.
vaccination does not prevent transmission of SARS-Cov-2.
It does however reduce transmission – have a lovely day.
Send the link again Rob
You are a day or two behind on the German news chef.
That all sounds reasonable and logical, should confuse the government no end
Ireland has a higher vaccination rate than England, and the gap is increasing every day. England has been fully open for almost 3 weeks, with cases going off a cliff in that timeline. Despite life being fully back to normal – nightclubs, music festivals, no masks, no restrictions.
How can our lockdown still be justified, months behind our nearest neighbour?
Fair point alright Zaccone.
It’s a pity no one in the Irish media is asking the same. :(
It isn’t true that covid cases “went of a cliff” in the last three weeks. There was a spike in cases and then they came back down. For the last few days they have been at similar levels to four weeks ago. There was no cliff.
July 17th (before things were open): 55,000 cases in the UK
Aug 3rd (weeks after masks went away and people could go to nightclubs and festivals): 21,000 case in the UK
A steady decline on average for 3 weeks that has left cases at almost 1/3rd of what they were. Thats a pretty clear cliff.
And its also a pretty massive difference from the 200,000 a day, apocalypse now, that was predicted by the Irish media and “experts”.
Boris has been proven completely right to reopen.
IMO, given the emerging evidence- either everyone gets rapid tested, or nobody does.
Shove your ‘back of the bus’ BS- for some it is not a choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea1uEz0i3d8
It’s great news for the UK
Something we should be emulating
Unfortunately, some people would like to stay as we are forever.