Offaly nightclub was selling drink after hours on bank holiday weekend

A JUDGE said the director of an Offaly hotel had been arrogant during an encounter with gardai over the bank holiday weekend in October.

A director of the Bridge House Hotel in Tullamore apologised before Judge Andrew Cody at the local District Court for what was described as an “error” where drink was served after 1am on Monday, October 28 last.

Ryan Lenaghan issued the apology when he was giving evidence during an application for special exemptions up to December 16 which would allow the premises to serve alcohol after regular drinking hours.

The gardai opposed the application and Sergeant Justine Reilly gave evidence of what had happened when she visited the Bridge House on the night of October 27/28 last.

Sergeant Reilly said she was on night duty and informed the staff that their exemption was for 1am. At 1.05am she met Ryan Lenaghan who advised her his exemption was until 2am.

When Sergeant Reilly told him it was 1am, he handed her a document with a legal opinion on it, dated September 16, 2022 and said he had “taken on the superintendent and won”.

Sergeant Reilly said she cautioned Mr Lenaghan, said his licence that night was for 1am and he was liable for prosecution if he continued to trade after that.

She said he told her he was in charge, was refusing to close and it did not matter what the sergeant said to him.

The final person left the nightclub at 2.17am and when the garda sergeant again spoke to Mr Lenaghan he said what the guards were doing was “absolutely ridiculous” and asked her if she had attended at the Tap pub to close it at 11pm the night before.

He also signed the sergeant's notebook at 1.10am saying he was aware he would be liable for prosecution if he continued to serve alcohol.

Sergeant Reilly said the legal document she had been shown was signed by senior counsel Cassidy and added that Mr Lenaghan asked her if she knew who that person was and that it was “the person that made the law for the liquor licensing in Ireland”.

Replying to Emily Mahon, solicitor for the Bridge House, Sergeant Reilly said she was told by Mr Lenaghan on the night that he could not access the special exemption because it was locked in the office.

Sergeant Reilly said the gardai had no problem with the door staff of the premises previously. That night was a very busy one and there were a lot of young people out.

Addressing Judge Cody, Ms Mahon said a mistake had been made by the Bridge House and it was a genuine error on Mr Lenaghan's part.

Judge Cody said the closing time on Monday mornings is 1am and Sergeant Reilly said that was also her understanding.

In his evidence, Mr Lenaghan said closing time on a regular Sunday would be 11pm and that would be extended to 1am with a special exemption.

He had thought there was an exemption to 2.30am on the bank holiday Monday and he apologised to the guards.

He accepted he had overstepped and added that it had been a high pressure situation where they had a lot of staff on duty.

Judge Cody responded: “A lot of patrons on the premises too, a lot of staff pulling pints, a lot of tills chinging until 2 o'clock in the morning.”

Mr Lenaghan said he knew it was important to abide by the law and the 1am closing time and on the night he thought he was following the law.

He said he had been working in the late night industry for 17 years, since he was 18, and he found it highly unusual that on a bank holiday Sunday the Bridge House would be asked to close at 1am.

There had been an error and he apologised.

Judge Cody told him: “You were able to produce an opinion from a senior counsel who you think wrote the licensing laws.”

He said Mr Lenaghan had not been able to produce his special exemptions but was able to “whip a senior counsel's opinion” out of his back pocket.

The hotel director said the exemptions were locked away separately and he did not have access.

Asked to comment by the judge, Sergeant Brendan Kearns, court presenter for the gardai, said: “What was concerning to gardai was the attitude that was received.”

Judge Cody said Mr Lenaghan had shown arrogance and entitlement by saying he had a senior counsel who wrote the law.

Mr Lenaghan said that had not been his intention. He said they had spent more than €48,000 on applications for exemptions from last year to date and always had them in court on time.

The Bridge House had a good working relationship with the gardai. “I apologise for this particular night and you have my word it won't happen again.”

Judge Cody said he had received a request for a donation from the Acorn youth diversion project in Edenderry of €5,000 towards the provision of a specialised coffee machine for the training of young people as baristas.

He asked Mr Lenaghan if the Bridge House would pay €5,000 to the court. When Mr Lenaghan said the payment would be made the judge granted the exemptions sought up to November 30 but those after that date would be subject to the payment of the €5,000 before December 1.

He gave Mr Lenaghan advice on what to do in future when Sergeant Reilly or other guards called to his premises: “Keep your opinion, written or otherwise, in your back pocket.”