Why clubland could be calling it a night in Ireland

As well as the fresh doubts about reopening, there are existential threats to Ireland’s night-time economy, with just 100 nightclubs and 200 late-night bars remaining in the entire country

Ian Redmond, Owner of Tramline Nightclub: ‘It’s a nightmare. We will have been closed for 590 days. We just want to get back to work.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

Ian Redmond was planning to build a war chest in the last days of October.

The owner of Tramline nightclub had sold 3,000 tickets across the first ten nights of the reopening of his club on Hawkins Street in Dublin 2. The first customers would come through the door on Friday October 22, when almost all of the country’s Covid-19 restrictions were due to be lifted.

After 19 months of enforced closure, the chance to ...