A Dublin City Council policing body wants Minister for the Environment John Gormley to introduce legislation requiring specific planning permission for sex shops, lap dancing clubs and other "adult entertainment" outlets to limit their growth in the city.
While the council has previously stated that it wants to keep sex shops out of residential areas, it cannot stop the shops from opening as "retail outlets".
Lap dancing or strip clubs require only a bar and dance licence, while a sex shop can seek planing permission as a retail outlet. Moreover, any existing retail outlet can be changed to a sex shop without planning permission.
The council's Joint Policing Committee is to write to Mr Gormley to ask for new legislation to regulate the adult entertainment industry through the planning laws and the National Retail Planning Guidelines.
The recently-formed policing committee, whose members include councillors, council management as well as Garda and community representatives and TDs, Joe Costello (Lab), Tony Gregory (Ind) and Senator David Norris (Ind) was established to make recommendations on the future of policing in the city area.
Labour councillor and committee member Emer Costello said there had been an explosion in the numbers of such outlets, particularly sex shops, in the city and the rest of the State in recent years. Often these shops were situated in residential areas beside newsagents, or near churches and schools, but local authorities were powerless to stop their rise.
"The proliferation of adult entertainment outlets throughout the country is becoming a major cause for concern to both residents and local authorities alike. Yet local authorities are powerless to act," she said.
"As it currently stands, any adult shop or strip club can open without planning permission. Residents have no recourse to the planning laws when such outlets open." Specific permission was required for other outlets such as betting shops, yet there was no legislative provision to deal with the opening of adult outlets.
"The situation is bizarre. Off-licences, pubs and bookies need to apply for planning permission, yet adult entertainment shops need no planning permission. Likewise, strip clubs . . . need no planning permission. They simply require a dance and bar licence," she said.
The Dublin City Development Plan states that it is the council's policy to prohibit sex shops in residential areas, but without the backing of legislation the policy has no force in law, Ms Costello said. The previous minister for the environment, Dick Roche, accepted that the planning laws, because of their age, made no provision for dealing with these type of outlets and had committed to reviewing the laws, she said.
"The previous minister for the environment promised to address the issue but failed to act. I am urging Minister John Gormley to introduce legislation to enable local authorities to regulate . . . so that planning permission be required for all adult entertainment retail and dance outlets."
