Those of who live in the UK know all too well what it’s like to live under a government which is constantly changing its mind on things. One minute, they’re really keen to do something – the next minute, they’ve totally forgotten what they were saying five minutes ago. Well, it might be reassuring – or utterly depressing – to realise the Irish government is exactly the same.

Last week, the Irish government started having discussions about introducing a rule where tickets for shows would need to be purchased in advance. The idea was that, as part of Covid relaxation rules, you could no longer buy tickets to enter venues such as nightclubs at the door. No more turning up randomly and hoping for the best – they would have to be bought at least one hour before starting time.

According to Sunil Sharpe from the country’s Give Us The Night movement, “It first came up on Wednesday. It was on the table, then it was off the table. Then it was back again on Thursday, then gone again. Then there was silence from the departments throughout Friday until later that evening. We met [with] I think 15 or 20 minutes notice, and we were told that ticketing would be coming into place.”.

My source in Dublin tells me the guidelines will be published soon, “most likely on Thursday or Friday”, so we’ll (hopefully) get to know the specifics of the policy. Which is practically an admission that the policy was written on the back of a packet of cigarettes.

Actually taking time to think things through is very out of fashion this year, isn’t it?