Let’s face facts. Despite nightclubs having been a thing for many decades now, it remains the case that governments at all levels are almost universally clueless on how to handle them. They know nightlife brings money into local economies – but they also know they’re not without their problems.

One of those issues is the noise they cause. Most nightclubs are on repurposed premises – in other words, they were something else before becoming a clubbing venue. And in an age where city centre living is encouraged more than in the past, it’s inevitable there will be some issues that arise.

What no one ever tries to do is resolve those issues in a way that allows everyone to co-exist. It also resolves in dubious complaints – as Ears To The House has reported previously, Manchester’s Night & Day Café is still dealing with a noise complaint from a neighbour who no longer even lives in the area.

Which is why one idea from the Irish government has really caught our attention. They believe the problem can be at least mitigated by soundproofing nightclubs – and have launched a fund in order to pay for it. The pot currently has €2million in it, and venues can apply for a maximum of €70,000 to use for the job.

Will it work? It obviously remains to be seen whether this will wind in the complaints of neighbours living nearby – but Ears To The House certainly thinks it’s worth a try. After all, other proposed “solutions” such as trying to close nightclubs down or telling them to play music at stupidly low levels haven’t…