Donegal publican fined for breaches as licence transferred to son

A pub license has remained within a Donegal family after the licensee was fined €750 for successive breaches of the licensing laws.

Judge Eiteain Cunningham agreed to allow the license for the Village Inn in Kerrykeel to remain in place after it was agreed it would be transferred into the name of another family member.

Former licensee of the pub, Martin Coyle, appeared at Letterkenny District Court after being found guilty of a number of charges of allowing after-hours drinking on the premises in 2022.

A previous court was told that Coyle, aged 47, had numerous previous convictions for after-hours drinking going back to 2016.

Earlier this year, Coyle's solicitor, Ms Maureen Gallagher, said it was her client’s intention to transfer the license to his grown-up children.

Pleading with Judge Eiteain Cunningham not to endorse her client’s license, she said his children have “a different attitude to running the premises.”

Judge Cunningham agreed to adjourn the case to see what happened with regard to the license of the bar.

However, when the case was called Ms Gallagher said the license had not been transferred in the name of Mr Coyle’s children and this was not a road that he wished to go down.

Judge Cunningham said that she was adjourning the case for sentencing until yesterday but warned Ms Gallagher that “the court’s options are very much restricted.”

Mr Coyle’s latest court appearance relates to an incident on September 12, 2022.

Garda Suzanne Gordon previously told the court that Gardai received an anonymous tip-off of after-hours drinking at the premises.

Garda Gordon and a colleague called to the Village Inn, arriving at 4.30am.

The front door of the premises was closed but they made their way into the premises through a back door which was open and unlocked.

Garda Gordon said she noticed five males in the bar area and that freshly-poured pints of beer were present and music was playing.

She said it took patrons a couple of minutes to realise that the Gardai were present.

Garda Gordon said the owner of the bar, Martin Coyle, approached her and said: “You f***ers are out to get me.”

She added that Mr Coyle was intoxicated and aggressive.

Before Mr Coyle came before the court today for judgement in the case, an application was made to the court to transfer the license into the name of his son.

Sergeant Jim Collins asked Mr Coyle Jnr if he was aware of all the licensing laws including that of underage drinking, opening hours and if he would agree to provide Gardai with CCTV footage from the bar if requested.

He agreed and Sergeant Collins said Gardai had no objection to the transfer of the license if any undertaking was given to abide by these laws.

Mr Coyle Senior's case was called later and Judge Cunningham said that in light of the earlier transfer of the license she was convicting the accused and fined him €750.