Night-club owners in Galway held an emergency meeting yesterday in response to new conditions of their licences which force them to turn off music in order to provide food for their patrons.
Gardai from the Western Division, which includes Cos Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and Clare, this week announced the new conditions which will force clubs and discotheques to turn on their house lights and provide a meal from 11.30 p.m. to 12.15 a.m. nightly.
Insp Martin Lee said that the new conditions were being attached to all special exemptions in Galway in an effort to deter the number of incidents which arise in the city under the Public Order Act after the clubs close.
Insp Lee said that the Garda intended to inspect premises on a regular basis to ensure that the music had stopped between those hours and that "proper meals" were being served to customers.
Several discos in the city might lose their licences if they did not adhere to these conditions, said Judge John Garavan, when the matter was raised at Galway District Court yesterday.