Gardai inspectors had sought a blanket ruling that dance licences only be allowed up until 2am, to help prevent public order problems arising. Judge Desmond Zaidan agreed with this approach and granted many dance licences under that condition in previous months.

However, club owners opposed to the earlier time.

Judge Kilrane told the court: “I’m not inclined to the view that the one size fits all approach is the best one in this case. What I would like to see instead is the Gardai drawing up a template of conditions and then amending them in each case, according to agreement with the premises owner.

“When the application comes before the court, the inspector can just say whether there’s no objection, subject to the conditions, and hand those up to be attached to the licence.

“If there is an objection, than we can put the case to one side for hearing.

“All premises are different. For example, a packed disco heaving with 1,000 young people must adhere to the strictest conditions versus a parochial hall with half a dozen dances each year for senior citizens. In the latter case, the likelihood of fisticuffs breaking out would be considerably reduced, although I admit walking sticks could potentially be used as offensive weapons.

“Where you have less than 250 people, the question of whether you need the full rigour of security, CCTV, etc, should be looked at on a case-by -ase basis, as these are very expensive. There may be cases, having regard to the history of the premises and how well it’s been run, where these may not be deemed to be necessary.

“Business people should be allowed to run their premises and make money, which is becoming more difficult in the current economic climate. The Gardai are responsible for public order and the two should be working together. I expect full co-operation from both parties on this issue.”