THE MERMAIDS - A BAR OR A RESTAURANT?
GARDAÍ OBJECT TO RENEWAL OF RESTAURANT CERT, BUT OWNER SAYS KITCHEN IS IN FREQUENT USE
A LISTOWEL businessman was given additional time to demonstrate that his premises is operating as a restaurant following a lengthy deliberation on Thursday as gardaí objected to the renewal of his restaurant certificate.
Gardaí said they saw no evidence that the Three Mermaids, 47, 49 and 51 William Street, Listowel, was in use as a restaurant when they inspected the premises on Friday, August 31, last at 11.52pm.
Owner Liam O’Flaherty sought to assure the court that the Mermaids was operating as a restaurant on one side with the bar and nightclub in operation on the other side of the business.
The court heard that a restaurant certificate enables a premises to serve liquor for an hour longer than a regular pub licence.
Sergeant Kearney told the Court that when he called to the Mermaids he was informed by the person in charge that the restaurant had not been in use since the previous Listowel Races in 2017.
“I asked her to show me the dining area, she said there was no dining area...there was no food being served, no menus on display, it was basically just a pub. About 20 people were consuming alcohol on seating at the bar,” Sgt Kearney informed the Court.
He said he contacted Mr O’Flaherty by phone who arrived roughly half an hour later. “Mr O’Flaherty took me to the kitchen, he informed me he was chef that night and there would be food served.” He said Mr O’Flaherty went to turn on a cooker.
“It was far from a kitchen,it was more like a storeroom,” the Sgt said, however.
Solicitor for Mr O’Flaherty, Eamon Dillon, asked Sgt Kearney if he had ever seen Ms the employee he first met on arrival there before. “I had not,” he replied. “Would you accept that she always works Sunday night and not Friday night?”
“I can’t accept that because I went in on a Friday night and she was working there,” Sgt Kearney replied.
The Sgt accepted it was a fully ‘ kitted-out’ kitchen.
“Mr O’Flaherty said he tried to show you it was a functioning kitchen, and that’s why he went over to turn on the deep fat fryer,” Mr Dillon said.
“It was definitely not a kitchen that was in use in my opinion,” the Sgt replied.
“Can I put it to you that food is served there?” “I have inspected that premises many times and I have never seen food served there,” Sgt Kearney said.
Mr O’Flaherty informed the court that his premises was split into two sections: a nightclub on the right-hand side and a bar/restaurant on the other.
Judge David Waters sought clarification on a number of matters: “We’re using terms that don’t exist. There’s no such thing as a restaurant/bar. You can have a bar with seats and you can call it a restaurant/bar, but it’s a bar that serves food... you can’t have a bar with a restaurant certificate...you can’t have a restaurant certificate attached to a bar and then serve food until 12.30am.
“It has to be structurally adapted as a restaurant, and one of the conditions is that you can’t have a bar area with seating...does he have a restaurant or a bar?” the Judge queried. “He has a restaurant,” Mr Dillon said.
Mr O’Flaherty explained that the business contains a large dining area with room for up to 80 diners. He explained that he had turned on the fryer on the night as the ‘garda didn’t believe me it was in use as a kitchen’. The matter was adjourned until December 6. THERE’S been a ‘ big drive’ on to promote Irish golf at the International Golf Travel Market (ITGM) in Slovenia – and you surely couldn’t promote Irish golf without having a selection of Kerry courses in your armoury.
Tourism Ireland joined up with 16 Irish courses as part of this massive international event. Two of these clubs were from Kerry: Ballybunion Golf Club and Killarney Golf and Fishing Club.
John Eggleston and Anna Maria O’Mahony of Ballybunion Golf Club; and Cormac JUST as every person has a story, every place has one too, so be sure not to miss learning the story of your locality at the Storied Kerry Consultation Conference this Saturday.
St Oliver’s National School in Killarney welcomes all to come and listen to eight storytellers from each Kerry district discuss for five minutes each, while emphasising Flannery and Aoife Nolan of Killarney Golf and Fishing Club were amongst 1,300 golf travel professionals and 400 golf tour operators at the four-day spectacular. The event featured one-to-one, pre-scheduled appointment and networking – with the aim of getting a major head start ahead of 2019. the importance of understanding the history, landscape, archaeology and folklore that make the area you occupy in Kerry unique. Beginning with a performance at 9am by Siamsa Tire, the event will continue until 5pm with a series of workshops and panel discussions.
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