Lap-dancing club granted licence without a Whisper
"THEY'VE no choice, do they?" That's lap-dancing club owner Dave Coughlan's response when asked whether the people of Kilkenny have now come to accept his controversial club, Whispers.
The pole-dancing club which was at the centre of a storm of controversy when it opened its doors has been granted a licence to continue trading.
Whispers Sports Bar and Pole-dancing Club received an annual licence for its city centre venue without a murmur recently -- at least in comparison to the uproar that ensued after the granting of the first ad-interim licence.
There were no formal objections to the renewal of the licence before the court, though objections from the local authority, disgruntled residents and the former Mayor Marie Fitzpatrick had formed strong opposition the first time around.
Councillor Fitzpatrick had warned that this type of club had the potential to fuel the sex trade in the area, which, as a consequence, could lead to an increase in the trafficking of young women.
A small number of protesters continue to picket the club at the weekend.
"I wasn't that surprised. I'm originally from London and they're all over the place there so they don't particularly bother me," said Kilkenny resident Geraldine Fahey, who didn't agree with people protesting outside the club. "I thought it was a bit ridiculous, a bit over the top, at the beginning and I'm glad to see that it has died down. Everyone to their own."
A local butcher, Gary O'Dwyer, had first-hand experience of the venue: "Ah it's okay, I wouldn't go back again. I was there for about an hour, I haven't been there since and I wouldn't be rushing down there every weekend. I don't mind it, some people have a job out of it, so that's the way I look at it."
But Kilkenny Labour Councillor Sean O hArgain has a different view of the club. "I don't see any acceptance of it." he said. "I think feelings are equally as strong on it as they were at the beginning.
"Local authorities should be empowered to be able to deny planning permission to these types of clubs in built-up residential areas and in city centre business areas.
"My biggest fear is in relation to the exploitation of women that this club represents and which the whole industry represents. If you look at some of the major international studies on the issue, there is evidence to show that, in the proximity of lap dancing clubs, there is an increase in assaults on women. I've stressed this before, I'm not a 'Holy Joe'; I would be very liberal in relation to matters that pertain to adults and what they do.
"There's a big difference between that and an industry that exploits women," he says.
Ruhama, the group which works with women involved in prostitution and was vocal at the time of the club's opening said this week: "The lap-dancing club industry is part and parcel of the global sex industry, where women are abused on a vast scale. Unfortunately our licensing laws are treating them as mainstream entertainment venues."
- Joanna Kiernan
