Dancing in Limerick is a popular pastime at Cruise's Royal Hotel, the Royal George Hotel, St John's Pavilion and the Jetland Ballroom. But what age is appropriate to attend a dance?
Proposals have been put forward for the age requirement to be reduced from eighteen to sixteen. The problem for many dancehall owners is being able to identify a sixteen year old from an eighteen year old.
Manager of the Jetland Ballroom in Limerick Mr Max Muldoon comments on the difficulty of telling the age of teenagers. He believes that it should be up to the parents to say if a teenager can attend a dance and not up to the dancehall owners.
Views from the general public are mixed on whether or not the age requirement should be reduced.
Former Mayor of Limerick Mrs Frances Condell believes that if we don't allow teenagers of sixteen to attend dances, then they should be offered an alternative.
If I had a daughter aged sixteen, I'd probably be very slow to allow her to dance at sixteen but then children grow up much quicker than they did in my youth and for that reason perhaps I should be a little more lenient.
This episode of 'Newsbeat' was broadcast on 21 October 1964. The reporter is Arthur Quinn.
