Judge refuses Garda application

Gardai wanted to force nightclubs to employ female bouncers in order to crack down on women bringing drugs into late night premises in Cork but a District Court Judge today refused the Garda application.

Inspector William Duane said young women were bringing most of the drugs into nightclubs in Cork and all-male security staffs were curtailed in dealing with them.

Inspector Duane said male bouncers could not make searches on such women and they could not go into the women's toilets to monitor illegal drugs activities.

The inspector applied at the annual licensing court in Cork District Court today to make it a condition on disco bars and nightclubs getting dance licences that they would agree to employ a female security person to deal with what he said was a problem.

"At the moment women cannot be searched and there cannot be proper surveillance of ladies on the premises," Inspector Duane said.

However, Judge Uinsin MacGruairc rejected the application and refused to make it a condition on the granting of dance licences as had been requested by the gardai.

The judge said he could not go beyond a legal provision that already required dance premises to make reasonable arrangements to prevent the dealing of drugs on their premises.

"Can I dictate on the licence one aspect of what I regard as part of 'reasonable arrangements'? My answer to that is, 'No'. To do that would be to go beyond that subsection and to say bluntly that reasonable arrangements would consist of employing female security staff. And it would add an

implied power of search to the security member and I do not believe the court has that power," Judge MacGruairc said.

Following that decision licences were granted on the conditions that previously existed.