Give Us The Night.

Is a new campaign group seeking “positive changes to nightlife in Ireland with particular regard to music venues”.

They’re campaigning for more cultural spaces to be used as night venues, graduated closing times, 6am closing times in some music venues, 24-hour public transport, and the establishment of ‘night mayors’…

The group has just released its mandate which sez:

Countries around the world are experiencing the benefits of a healthy night-time economy. The commonly recognised timeframe of activity in this sector is 6pm – 6am.

This involves music venues, bars, restaurants, spectator sporting events, cinemas, theatres, shops, transport companies, and various other forms of hospitality.

Our nearest neighbour, the UK, values its night-time economy at £66 billion per year.

It is impossible however, to measure the night-time economy’s worth in Ireland, given the heavy restrictions placed on night-time businesses.

To achieve growth in the night-time industry, a complete rethink of our licensing laws and structure around them needs to take place.

There is a lack of clarity running through the licensing system in Ireland, with regulations that can vastly differ from county to county.

Unlike our European counterparts, Ireland lacks a specific set of decision-makers in relation to night-time events and licensing, with limited initiatives in place to enhance the night-time economy.

As a starting point, Give Us The Night (GUTN) believe that a night-time commission/advisory group should be established in each major city as soon as possible.

These groups can provide expert knowledge as well as recommendations on the local night-time economy, based on a range of research and consumer feedback.

GUTN welcome the establishment of a Night Mayor (Maor Oíche) in each major city. A Night Mayor (or equivalent individual such as ‘Night Czar’ or ‘Night-Time Economy Advisor’) has been established in cities across the world including London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and New York to great effect.

A Night Mayor can act as a liaison between stakeholders in the night-time industry. The Night Mayor would work alongside the Lord Mayor of that city, the city council, An Garda Síochána, venue operators, and event programmers.

GUTN also believe that the formation of licensing boards within city and county councils would aid the work of the Night Mayor, or alternatively work as stand-alone groups in areas where no Night Mayor exists.

Councils could establish these groups to provide more time, fairness and transparency to licensing application decisions.

This would also devolve more power to local authorities, to make decisions related to their own specific night-time economy.

There could also be a fresh approach to granting occasional licences for one-off music and cultural events of all sizes.

With a growing festival market, we feel that some of these events could provide an opportunity to test extended opening hours in suitable areas on a pilot scheme basis.

Read GUTN’s mandate in full here

Give Us The Night

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy

This afternoon in the Dáil.

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy again asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about the delay some women are experiencing in accessing their CervicalCheck slides.

Ms Murphy has previously raised the issue numerous times.

Last November, she told the Dáil that it was her understanding that the National Screening Service ordered Quest Diagnostics – which was sued by the late Emma Mhic Mhathuna – to stop releasing slides back in August.

And she said she understands that some women are going to the High Court to force the release of their slides.

This afternoon, she told the Taoiseach:

“Taoiseach, I raised with you some months ago the issue of the CervicalCheck slides not being provided to women and you gave an assurance that day, that you’d go back and talk to your officials and I’ve pursued this matter with Minster [for Health Simon] Harris.

“I indicated that it was going to end up in the courts. It was in the High Court on the 20th of December. There were commitments made by the HSE in that court to provide the slides. They have not been provided.

“The women are back in the court this Friday.

“Taoiseach this is a disgrace. There’s absolutely no reason why these slides should not be provided. There’s an unnecessary frustration being experienced by these women.

“Can I ask you to give us an assurance that this nonsense will be stopped and the HSE will be instructed to do what they agreed to do in the court?”

The Taoiseach replied:

“I recall when you raised that last time, I did make inquiries with the HSE and Department of Health about that and put across our very strong instruction from Government that slides should be provided without undue delay.

“I understand that there can be delays at different points. That, before a slide can be sent to a laboratory, the solicitor has to indicate which laboratory they want to send to. There is a protocol in place.

“The vast majority of solicitors, I understand, have signed up to that protocol but not all have. So delays can happen at different points. It isn’t always at the point of the HSE or the lab.

“They can happen at the level of law firm as well.”

Previously: “I Don’t Believe I’m Being Told The Truth”

Ben Gilroy

Mary Carolan, in The Irish Times, reports:

Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroy has been jailed for three months over failure to comply with a High Court order to complete 80 hours community service after he admitted criminal contempt.

On Wednesday, Mr Justice Brian McGovern found there was a “deliberate and conscious” breach by Mr Gilroy of the October 2017 community service order, arising from Mr Gilroy’s admission, earlier in 2017, of criminal contempt.

Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroy jailed for three months (Mary Carolan, The Irish Times)

This afternoon.

In the Dáil, during Leaders’ Questions.

Following on from MPs in London voting down the UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal 432 to 202…

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said:

“This is a problem that began in Westminster, with the referendum on Brexit. We found a solution – the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated over months and months, agreed by 28 governments.

“And now Westminster has rejected that solution. So the problem lies in Westminster. And I welcome the fact the Prime Minister has said that she’s now going to engage with senior politicians from all parties to see if they can come together with a way forward, with a Brexit that commands a majority in the House of Commons.

“But whatever they come up with must be acceptable to us in Ireland the European Union as a whole.”

Watch Dáil proceedings live here

Earlier: Standstill

UPDATE:

Screengrab of an interactive graph created by Dublin Inquirer

This morning.

In the Dublin Inquirer…

Lois Kapila reports:

Hundreds of Dublin City Council-owned homes are overcrowded, while hundreds of others remain underused, council figures suggest.

….Of the one-bedroom council homes in the Dublin City Council area, 111 have three or more people living in them.

For two-beds, 243 have six or more people living in them. For three-beds, 46 have nine or more people living in them. For four-beds, four households have 12 or more people living in them.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are homes that are emptier. For three-beds, 823 have only one person living in them. For four-beds, 113 have one person in them, and 232 have two people in them.

“The bottom line is that there are hundreds of underused or overcrowded tenancies or homes where Dublin City Council is the landlord,” Cuffe said.

…“It’s a minefield this whole issue,” says Cuffe. “We’ve seen huge controversy in the UK, where taxation was proposed on empty bedrooms. I don’t think we should go down that road.”

“But at a time when we have tens of thousands of homeless people in the city, we do have to look at a better use of the limited housing stock that we have,” he says.

Hundreds of Council Homes are Overcrowded, While Others Are Underused, Figures Show (Lois Kapila, Dublin Inquirer)


Yesterday.

Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2.

Paul Murphy TD speaks on Solidarity’s Birthright Citizen bill which would give automatic citizenship to anyone born in Ireland and will be put to the Dáil tomorrow.

The Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Restoration of Birthright Citizenship) Bill would, according to Mr Murphy, undo the “Trump-style citizenship laws” introduced following a 2004 referendum on the issue.

Top from left: Chairperson of Migrant Women Sandra Ruit,  Paul Murphy, Silibaziso Ndlovu (Tina) and Gino Kenny TD.

Solidarity

Leah Farrell/RollingNews


Installations by LA based artist Mike Stilkey, who paints, pencils and lacquers directly onto stacks of worn-out library books otherwise destined for recycling.

His pieces range from assemblages of half a dozen covers to walls formed by thousands of layered spines, located in accommodating public spaces..

mymodernmet

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