Garda: I did not want conflict over bingo

A GARDA superintendent whose officers searched a bingo hall and seized property in a case where the licence is in dispute said yesterday at the High Court in Cork that “the last thing I wanted to do was go down there and take bingo books from old ladies”.

Supt Charles Barry said he always got on very well in his meetings with the managing director of Omega, James Barber, who was trying to operate the 1,000-seater Rock Bingo in Togher, Cork.

“He [Mr Barber] said: ‘The last thing I want is confrontation with you’. I said: ‘The last thing I want is confrontation with you’,” Supt Barry said, adding that the meetings were always cordial and that there was never any raised voices at meetings.