The Irish LGBTQ+ scene has lost a beloved queer space as Sunday Social announced its premature closure over licensing complications yesterday, July 5.

“Sadly yes,” their Instagram and Twitter pages read. “After 14 years we have to close up. Post reopening has seen the most stringent enforcement by gardai of the 1am sunday closing. With no sign of the new extended hours/ licensing bill getting passed anytime soon, were [sic] left with no choice. Cant [sic] run a club for 2 hours.”

The LGBTQ+ disco found its home at Farrier & Draper, South William Street, with many members of our queer community flocking to it every Sunday to let loose and “dance, lounge and cruise”.

Speaking to GCN on this ongoing issue, longtime gay club promotor and activist Buzz O’Neill said:

“Everyone in our industry is extremely disappointed that the Dáil will be closing up soon, and that the proposed bill still isn’t on the books yet, it hasn’t been voted through. So we’re waiting now until September, so it’s another summer missed. And, you know, we’d just like maybe an opportunity to consider some sort of an emergency power that can enable the guards to let us open for longer hours or even just to even it up and make Sunday nights the same as the other six nights of the week. We’ve never understood in our industry, why there’s a curtailment on Sunday night in the first place. It’s a very outdated and archaic piece of legislation.

“COVID has taught us, more than anything, that we do not live in a Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-five job world anymore. And a lot of people in the hospitality industry [who] would work all weekend get to have Sunday night off and that’s traditionally why Sunday Social has been the success that has been and has run for so long. And, you know, there’s huge disappointment in the community out there that that their night out has been taken away from them, or that their night out starts in the afternoon, which in 2022 is a pretty ridiculous situation to still find ourselves in.

“The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice, all promised this legislation would be on the books before the end of business for the Dáil before the summer and it still hasn’t materialised. We’d like some answers.”

Sunday Social’s untimely closure also has many patrons mourning the loss of the weekly “big gay disco”.

 

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“Imagine the stringent enforcement we’re seeing in the city is making sure people stop dancing at 1am on a Sunday. Cos *that’s* the problem with town rn lol,” wrote one Twitter user. “Get a life. Not everyone needs to get up early on a Monday morning.” They also used the hashtag, #ClubbingIsCulture.

Imagine the stringent enforcement we're seeing in the city is making sure people stop dancing at 1am on a Sunday. Cos *that's* the problem with town rn lol.

Get a life. Not everyone needs to get up early on a Monday morning.#ClubbingIsCulture https://t.co/wjseWbwmML

— Andrea Horan (@AndreaHoran) July 5, 2022

Another wrote: “This is actually so sad to see. As someone who work’s [sic] Fri/Sat night in the service industry Sunday social was always such a nice vibe and chance to have a bit of the weekend off yourself.”

This is actually so sad to see. As someone who work’s Fri/Sat night in the service industry Sunday social was always such a nice vibe and chance to have a bit of the weekend off yourself. https://t.co/VGzl5COY3J

— ?✨?☀️♻️? (@baesness) July 5, 2022

“This is so sad. I had some of the best (and messiest) nights in Sunday Social,” Tweeted another club-goer. “Sunday Social after Pride last week was phenomenal. The music was perfect. This is a real shame. I hope we can get the longer hours we were promised soon, and @Sundaysocialgay can return!”

https://twitter.com/arneldo/status/1544317558794469377

The Sale of Alcohol bill is the current licensing bill which is forcing Sunday Social into its early closure, but according to Hotpress, “new laws are expected to be enacted to update and modernise licensing law through the Sale of Alcohol Bill” as part of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s Justice Plan 2022.