When this column began, there was one story which I swore would never feature here. Back in 2000, you just couldn't write about clubs or clubland without regularly outlining the licensing difficulties and hassle which promoters and venue owners faced every night of the week as they went about their business, writes Jim Carroll

Each article would adhere to the same template. It would begin with the startling fact that there is no such thing in Irish law as a nightclub. It would then list the number of licences which a club needed to hold in order to operate and ir would conclude with the belief that This Issue Has To Be Dealt With.

It made good sense to keep a generic piece on file to be used when the annual rumpus in clubland about licences and opening hours raised its head. Simply add a few new quotes from the usual suspects, change the dates and you had it nailed. No, I remember thinking, Discotheque will not go down that road. Just leave the topic alone and before you know it, Irish clubland will have joined its European neighbours in adopting a sensible, workable, adult approach to dance clubs and opening hours. After all, I thought, this has dogged Irish clubs from the outset, but everyone accepts that This Issue Has To Be Dealt With and it will soon be a thing of the past.

Sometimes I marvel at my own naivety. It's 2004 and, yes, you've guessed it, this issue still has to be dealt with. Despite various reviews of the licensing laws, despite the money the club sector chucks into the national coffers and despite the spouting of much guff, clubland continues to be sidestepped like it's a scuzzy banana skin.

There was a sense of inevitability, then, about the controversy caused by recent attempts by the upholders of law and order to somehow maintain law and order in the capital city by kicking everyone out of bars and clubs at 1.30am. Over 20,000 people signed an online petition, club owners articulated their views on various TV and radio shows and much ink was used to express righteous anger about the proposal. When you find Derek Davis, techno fans and taxi drivers in broad agreement on an issue, you know something is stirring.

But, as far as most people are concerned, the proposed clampdown was averted. Sure, a few clubs who were exploiting theatre licence loopholes had their wings clipped, but clubs are still open and folk can dance, drink and be merry until 2.30am. Yahoo! 2.30am! It's astonishing how easily people are placated by short-term gratification. For the vast majority of clubbers, the long term just does not matter. They're happy as long as they can get their jollies tonight or tomorrow night. The procrastination on this issue which was evident when Dublin was the alleged clubbing capital of Europe will probably still be apparent when those same clubs have been turned into Internet cafés, lapdancing clubs and off-licences.

Just because clubs are still open does not mean that this issue has gone away. The same problems which club owners and operators faced in the courts last month will crop up again at the next licence renewal session. Don't blame the Garda for this situation; they're just enforcing what are haphazard and outdated laws. Indeed, if you were to be mischievous, you might think that the Garda objections were partly to bring this matter to a head. There you go, Minister, you sort it out when you come back from Roscommon. Sure, you've had plenty of time to think about it.

There's informed speculation that the Minister for Justice may well indeed bring this issue to a close in the near future. If this happens, it will be thanks to the lobbying and continued pressure brought about by such industry bodies as the Give Us The Night Campaign and the Dublin Nightclub Association. If it doesn't happen, however, clubbers will only have themselves to blame for letting this issue slide off the table once again.

After all, there's no point complaining if you don't actually do something about what ails you.