Local objections to Mitchelstown gaming arcade to be heard in court, as Perks applies for licence

A District Court will tomorrow hear an application for a licence to open a gaming arcade in a Cork town, despite opposition from locals.

Perks Promotions Mitchelstown Ltd will apply for the licence at the District Court in neighbouring Fermoy, where the objections of a number of locals will also be heard.

Martin Lane is the chairman of “The Concerned Citizens of Mitchelstown” - a group formed in opposition to the proposed arcade.

An online petition against the opening of the arcade launched by Mr Lane collected 1,607 names.

Locals opposed to the development contend that the opening of an arcade on the town's main street will 'normalise' gambling and create anti-social problems. Mr Lane said the group will make submissions against the approval of the licence on the grounds that by-laws introduced by Cork County Council 35 years ago prohibit the granting of licences to gaming operations in parts of the county.

In January 1984, the Cork Examiner reported how a Mr Pasquelina Matassa appealed a decision to reject his application for a gaming licence application for a Mitchelstown arcade.

Mr Matassa’s solicitor told Kanturk District Court that the Council planned to bring about by-laws that “would mean in effect that no further gaming licences would be given out in Mitchelstown”.

The appeal was rejected, and on January 17, 1984, the Cork Examiner reported that Cork County Council had “revoked the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 in respect of the town of Mitchelstown in which no gaming operations will now be permitted.”

Last year, Cork County Council granted planning permission to change the use of the former Weavers Bar on Lower Cork Street to an amusement arcade.

The Concerned Citizens of Mitchelstown submitted an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, which upheld the decision on the grounds that matters arising from the Gaming and Lotteries Act, and concerns relating to gambling and addiction, are not planning matters.

Perks’ previous efforts to open a similar operation in Fermoy were unsuccessful. It had been granted planning permission to open an arcade Blackwater Shopping Centre, but An Bord Pleanála’s restrictions on opening hours ultimately prevented the arcade from opening.

A second attempt to open the arcade in a unit on the southside of Fermoy was unsuccessful, with planners ruling that the proposed location was in a neighbourhood centre, and therefore a gaming arcade would be incompatible with the area.