'I will make a bigger impact on hospitality than Tony Ryan did to aviation in Ireland' - teen opening doors to his own nightclub

Entrepreneur Eamonn O'Shea doesn't turn 18 until September, but a rule allowing 17-year-olds to work in a nightclub once food is being served will be taken advantage of at his family's premises in Ballyfermot.

Eamonn will open 'Gatsby Dublin' in a function room above his parent's pub, The 79 Inn, on Friday and has 10 of his friends working as promoters for the all-ticket event.

"It's what sets us apart from the rest. We'll have a hotdog stand serving food all night and we'll have four bouncers at the door," Eamonn said.

The name is a play on the novel The Great Gatsby, which is famous for its depiction of extravagant parties, and the teen behind the venture is not short on confidence.

impact

"I am the biggest thing to hit the Irish hospitality industry since Louis Fitzgerald and Charlie Chawke, and will make a bigger impact on hospitality than Tony Ryan did to aviation in Ireland," he told the Herald.

"My father and mother have been involved as publicans for 20 years now, so it's in my blood. I'll be paying rent to have the nightclub in the function room. We plan to wedge the place, selling 250 tickets at €12 a head."

His father, Eamonn Snr, insisted that the nightclub will be very strict on ID and nobody under 18 will get in.

"There certainly won't be underage drinking, that goes without saying. He's 17 and he doesn't drink," he said.

Meanwhile, his son hopes one day to have his own pub in Temple Bar.