A Cork city publican who runs a number of venues says new plans to extend opening hours for pubs and nightclubs could save the nightclub industry.
The Justice Minister is proposing to allow clubs to continue serving drink until 5am and stay open until 6am in a major reform of Ireland's 200 year old licensing laws.
Under the new plans, pubs would be allowed to operate between half 10 in the morning and half 12 at night across the week.
The new plans have already sparked concerns among some that it may send the wrong message about Ireland's drink culture and our health, and others say attracting staff for the later hours will prove to be very challenging.
However, speaking to RedFM News in the past few minutes city publican Paul Montgomery says the industry is evolving all the time and it's worth examining this proposal, as it may just be what the nightclub industry needs:
"I think it would be important for the economy of a city like Cork to adapt to new culture that's developing, let's embrace it and let's run it in an efficient way. It's going to come down to being commercially viable, and staffing and recruiting people. It might just suit certain people that want to work those type of shifts."
