Justice Minister confirms plans to extend pub and nightclub opening hours

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has been speaking this morning about plans to extend pub opening hours.

It was widely reported over the weekend that nightclubs will be allowed open later and Sunday pub opening hours will be extended once the hospitality industry reopens. In what would be an overhaul of Ireland's licensing laws, the Government hopes that the move will help with the sector's recovery when Covid-19 restrictions are eased or lifted entirely. Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Helen McEntee said that "It is not about encouraging people to go out late on a Sunday night and then having to get up for work on Monday morning, it's about reforming our licensing laws and modernising them for the very reason that some of them are still based on 1833 legislation. It is about acknowledging that our clubs and nightclubs in our city centres and our large towns and villages are still working off legislation and acts that started back in 1935." Nightclubs have been shut since March of last year and over the weekend An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the hospitality sector is unlikely to open until midsummer, sparking a wave of negative reactions from publicans. READ NEXT: The Irish entrepreneur spreading love through fun socks