Nightclub owners want to stay open until 4 a.m.

The State's nightclub owners have proposed staying open until 4 a.m., claiming alcohol sales on their premises have decreased by between 15 and 20 per cent in the first six months of the year.

The nightclub owners have pledged to pay for the Garda overtime which would make an extension of their opening hours possible.

The Irish Nightclub Industry Association said yesterday that the current pub and club opening hours mean that patrons from both venues spill out onto the streets at the same time, compounding on-street public order incidents.

If clubs were allowed to open later, pub patrons would have moved off the streets by the time club-goers left venues, the INIA said.

According to the INIA, sales of alcohol on premises had decreased and contrary to popular perception, people do not binge drink in nightclubs but drink, on average, 3.4 drinks each.

INIA secretary, Mr Paul McGarry, called on the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to put the Intoxicating Liquor Act on hold and to have an impact study of the proposed legislation carried out.

The owner of the PoD nightclub and INIA executive member, Mr John Reynolds, said he believed existing legislation governing the licenced trade is not being enforced. He described the new Intoxicating Liquor Bill as "rushed" and "draconian".

He said the "sequential closing" of venues was the key to diffusing alcohol-fuelled public order incidents, a move that had worked in other countries. The issue of on-street drunkenness in Ireland had been exaggerated, he added.

He said the Government should introduce a new nightclub licence to replace the current system of District Courts granting exemptions to clubs to allow them to open as late as 2 a.m. Such licences would only be renewed every year with the agreement of health and safety officials, gardaí and fire officers.

The nightclub sector comprises 300 premises serving 500,000 patrons weekly. It has a turnover of €500 million, employing 4,000 people. It was currently a "hybrid" industry but would be put on a proper footing if new nightclub licences were introduced, the INIA claims.

The group commissioned A&L Goodbody Consulting to carry out a review of the industry and yesterday launched a submission to the Government based on the findings. It met Mr McDowell yesterday to present the findings entitled "The case for a nightclub licence".

Its submission identifies 12 points on which a new code of conduct could be based. Any club would then have to enforce that code before their nightclub licence would be renewed.

The code covers enforcing laws on underage drinking, drawing up rules for security policies, installing CCTV cameras and co-operating with gardaí and other officials on issues such as drug taking, noise pollution, personal safety and crime prevention.