With the print barely dry on the new drink licensing laws, another dispute is developing over late-night social activity in the west. A Mayo councillor has added his voice to calls for a curfew on fast food outlets to cut down on rows and fighting.
"Like Croke Park on a Sunday" is how Mr Ray Collins describes his town of Ballina in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday, long after pub closing.
"You drive through any of the towns that don't have such outlets open at that hour and the streets are deserted - and relatively clean. It is going to get worse if they open even later to meet the extended pub hours. Someone is going to get killed."
It is an issue which has already aroused some controversy in Galway. Several weeks ago, unnamed senior gardai in the west were reported to be looking at the possibility of a closing time for late-night fast food outlets to stem the number of rows outside the premises.
The Heart of Galway Association, representing the city's traders, reacted angrily. It said the real problem was under-resourced Garda stations.
The outgoing co-ordinator of the association, Mr Michael Heneghan, said restricted closing would be "a quick fix", akin to "waving the white flag of defeat to the thug element".
He said it was "disgraceful" to suggest that people should shut down their businesses so that gardai would not have to deal with a public order situation. "The Heart of Galway Association has been lobbying the Government for the last 18 months for a substantial increase in Garda numbers for Galway but Dublin has yet to act in any real and meaningful way."
The Galway west Garda division denied the report about gardai seeking a closing time, saying it was not within the remit of the Garda to restrict such opening hours. The matter was one for the local authority, it told The Irish Times, while acknowledging that problems do arise outside fast food outlets.
Unlike Britain, where there is some linkage, there is no provision within Irish law for consultation between planning authorities and police.
The Garda's community relations division is trying to encourage voluntary consultation but this relates mainly to planning and design of housing estates and multi-storey complexes.
Mr Collins does not believe that more policing is the answer. "Gardai have enough to do over here without having to clean up these rows.
"The Ballina gardai have a hinterland extending to Enniscrone, Co Sligo, and Ballycastle, Co Mayo. That's a 40-mile range and on night duty it is hard to cover. If the fast food outlets aren't open you won't get the fights - and you won't need the gardai."
The situation may be exacerbated by the abolition of the compulsory "meal" in nightclubs under the new legislation. Clubs can serve drink until 2.30 a.m., with 30 minutes drinking-up time.
Some takeaways may feel the opportunity for business in the early hours after the clubs close is too good to miss.
Supermacs, which began in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, in 1978 is reviewing its opening hours in the light of the new legislation. Several of its branches, including Eyre Square in Galway, stay open until 3 a.m.
"It is too early to decide what sort of impact the new hours will have," Mr Peter Boland said, speaking from the 44th Supermacs branch, which has just opened in Fermoy, Co Cork. "How Irish people will react to the change is the great unknown."
Mr Collins raised the issue at a recent meeting of Ballina Urban District Council. He was informed by the county secretary, Mr Padraig Hughes, that the local authority was empowered to pass a by-law regulating the closing time of takeaways provided it was not directed at any one outlet and was applied evenly.
Local authorities have already done this in several instances, such as in Galway. However, it is no help at all, as far as gardai are concerned, if the same authorities do not have the staff out patrolling in the early hours to "police" their own rules.
