PUBLICANS in Cork are working on a first of its kind code of practice for nightlife in the city across over 160 bars.

Chairperson of the Vintner’s Federation (VFI) of Ireland Cork branch, Michael O’Donovan, told the City Hall’s Joint Policing Committee that the code would see the city’s 163 members work with Cork Street Pastors and the Gardaí to safeguard reveller’s safety and health.

He added it will come into effect this year if agreement is reached and could also be rolled out in other cities if successful.

“We are currently working on a code of practice for our members in the city and if we can get an agreement from our members on certain aspects of this, we would hope to roll it out later this year. The code would reflect our relationship with the street pastors, the Gardaí and Cork City Council,” said Mr O’Donovan.

“This has been a difficult process because this is the first time in Ireland that a code of practice will be implemented citywide. We have to be sure it will work and can act as a template for other cities,” he added.

Meanwhile, the VFI remain committed to a code-word campaign that is attempting to make dating in the city safer.

The Ask for Angela campaign was launched in February of last year.

The concept is to give women the chance to seek assistance from bar staff in order to get home safely.

Instead of asking for help, the person can ask the bar staff ‘for Angela’ and the staff will then know that help is required.

The campaign was supported by the Gardaí and UCC and CIT students’ unions.

Mr O’Donovan said pubs took the campaign on board but most took down awareness posters after a short period.

He said the VFI will look to renew the campaign annually in order for people to know that there is help if they experience difficulty on a night out.

“We successfully launched it in Cork in February 2018. Unfortunately, I think pubs took down the posters after a few months and they were not renewed when the college year commenced last September.

We organised the fresh delivery of these posters for every Cork city pub in October and the VFI will commit to doing this every year going forward.

“This campaign was aimed at the tech-savvy person but not exclusively at these. I know of an instance where a 30-something person used the keyword Angela in the city,” he added.