Clohessy successfully appeals last orders ruling

A night-club owned by former Ireland rugby international Peter Clohessy has lost up to €15,000 a week since a court ruled that last orders had to be served by 1.30am, Limerick Circuit Court heard today.

The Munster sporting icon was giving evidence in an appeal against a District Court ruling which refused to allow his popular Limerick city disco The Sin Bin to serve alcohol until 2.30am.

Last year, at the annual licencing court, Limerick District Court Judge Tom O'Donnell ordered that Limerick nightclubs have had to stop serving alchohol at 1.30am.

The move has been supported by local gardaí who say there has been a drop in public order offences and drunkeness in the city centre since the earlier closing hours were introduced.

However, during his appeal at a special sitting of Limerick Circuit Court today, Peter Clohessy told Judge Carroll Moran that his nightclub was losing between €12,000 and 15,000 a week since the new law was implemented.

"It's had a great effect on my business. It's costing me a lot of money. I have gone from having a good healthy bank account to a bad account at present," he said.

The court heard that the former international Irish prop forward employs 65 staff and has 48 CCTV cameras at his premises.

During cross examination by state solicitor Michael Murray, Mr Clohessy said his average weekly turnover was between €98,000 and €100,000, but that it had dropped by almost 15%.

The country's top legal expert in licensing law, Constance Cassidy, SC, represented Mr Clohessy today.

During her submissions to the court, she said that under the Intoxicating Liquor Act as amended in 2003, a court could not impose a "blanket ban" on all nightclubs in a locality, and that each premises should be judged on its own merits.

Judge Moran was told that there had been no prosecutions against the Sin Bin nightclub for Public Order Offences since it opened three years ago and that there had been no problems with illicit drugs or drunkeness on the premises.

Ms Cassidy said her client was looking for the exemption for just nine nights over the Christmas period and would accept an extention until 2am.

Giving evidence on behalf of the State, Supt Gerry Mahon told the court that the recent law ordering nightclubs to stop serving alchohol at 1.30am had reduced the level of drunkeness on the streets and that there was "less agression" because less alchohol was being consumed.

Supt Mahon said extending the serving hours to 2.30am would stretch garda resources, increase public order offences and "will endanger life on the streets".

Judge Carroll Moran said he was constrained by the Liquor Act to consider each case on its own merits and that he had to take into account evidence that the Sin Bin was well run and had no prosecutions against it arising from public order offences.

He granted the appeal allowing the Sin Bin to serve alchohol until 2am for the requested period, which starts tonight.

It's expected that today's sucessful appeal could lead to similar applications by other nightclubs in Limerick.