Hotel staff on trial for alcohol death

AN Englishman celebrating his birthday in a Thurles hotel downed between eight and 10 spirits in a half-pint glass faster than a work colleague drank a half-pint of lager, a court has heard.

In a potentially landmark case brought under new liquor liability laws, a bar manager and barman working at Hayes Hotel, Thurles, yesterday pleaded not guilty at Nenagh Circuit Court to the manslaughter of Graham Parish.

Mr Parish died from acute intoxicating poisoning after a drinking binge in the hotel in the company of five other Englishmen.