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.

He said that at one meeting after failure of the company to get a licence at Cork District Court or through an appeal to the circuit, Mr Barber told him they had a licence but would not say where it had come from.

The superintendent told Mr Barber’s senior counsel, Dermot Gleeson, that the only reason he searched the premises and seized books was pursuant to an investigation for a possible offence under lotteries legislation.

Supt Barry said that after a number of cordial meetings he found that the company had begun “scattergunning” letters to government ministers and to several other quarters.

“There was a media scatter over the case… I said to myself, this is gone crazy but this is where I found myself,” said Supt Barry.

He told the court that had no difficulty with licences being sought for fundraising events in his district. In 2009 he granted 75 such licences via permit and a further 15 through the courts. In 2010, he granted 61 via permit and another seven through the courts. In this time, he only objected to one application for one lottery licence and one application for a gaming licence, he said.

He said he was aware of a lot of community groups reliant on bingo fundraisers, such as Carrigaline, Douglas and Blackrock GAA clubs, and a commercial bingo entity in Cork would effectively take them out and affect their services to the community.

Judgement will be given by Mr Justice Frank Clarke at the High Court in Dublin next month. Both parties will have an opportunity to make final submissions to the judge in Dublin.