Ballyshannon pub licence holder fined €50 for breaking century-old law

A licence holder of a Ballyshannon pub was fined €50 at Ballyshannon District Court for being contrary to a section of the Intoxicating Liquor General Act, 1924, during the Rory Gallagher Festival.

Joseph Darcy, 46, of East Port, Ballyshannon, was fined €50 with three months to pay, after Judge Brendan O’Reilly heard that Gardaí observed that in the early hours of May 31, 2024, the Bull Frog Bar, on East Port, Ballyshannon, did sell, expose for sale, or keep for sale by retail, alcoholic beverages without being duly licensed to sell such intoxicating liquor, contrary to section 7 of the Intoxicating Liquor (General) Act, 1924. 

Darcy’s solicitor, Jim Corbett, told the court: “Mr Darcy is a licensee. It was the Rory Gallagher Festival. The actual licensee was not on the premises that night.

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“He is putting his hands up and is accepting responsibility in the circumstances. Had he been there in charge, I doubt there would have been anybody in the premises.”

When Judge O’Neill was informed that written in the law in question, guilty parties should be fined no more than 50 pounds, he asked if there was “anything more up-to-date” before giving the fine of €50, taking into account that Darcy had no previous convictions.