Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Newry's Entertainment Licence is outdated and must be reviewed - Curran.

Published: 14 April, 2009

Sinn Féin Council Leader Brendan Curran has said that there must be a complete review of Newry and Mourne's Entertainment licensing laws. On Easter Sunday Newry's bars were forced to close at 10.30pm."

Cllr Curran said,

"The fact that Newry's bars are forced to close so early on a public holiday causes many problems."

"Most people are off work on bank holiday Monday and wish to socialise with their friends but are faced with a situation were they should be able to but we have a licence which criminalises providers who wish to service that need."

"Asituation may have arisen where some premises may be avoiding detection and disregarding these regulations."

"If pubs and clubs were still serving drink with their shutters down, doors locked and other covert means to cover what should be a legal pastime would cause obvious dangers such as fire hazards."

"I will be calling on our Council to remove these outdated laws because the people who elect us simply don't want them."

"People were being thrown out on the street at 10.30, many people didn't understand what was happening which initiated fighting on the doorstep of pubs and clubs."

Cllr Curran added that Newry is a huge attracter of night time economy opportunity and this was a slap on the face to both the customers and businesses.

"This is an extremely outdated law for a modern European society."