Pub says teen disco organisers refunded cost of venue hire

THE manager of a Wexford pub where a teenage disco had to be shut down due to overcrowding says the venue has refunded the cost of hiring the premises to the organisers of the event.

‘I assume that the organisers have organised refunds. We hadn’t anything to do with ticket sales or the proceeds of the door but what we have done since the ball is given back the organisers what we charged for the hire of the premises,’ said Denis Sinnott, manager of Mooney’s on the Quay where the TY ball on the October Bank Holiday weekend was closed down early in the interest of health and safety.

‘They said they were going to sort out the refunds and I assume they have because we weren’t contacted by people about refunds at all last week,’ the manager added.

One parent whose daughter travelled into Wexford from Cullenstown to attend the teenage event told this newspaper she never received a refund, and that they did not know how to apply to get their money back.

‘I brought my 16-year-old daughter and her friend into the ball and they paid in on the door after queueing outside for 90 minutes. She said it was like being in a tin of sardines even before she got inside the premises.

‘They paid €12 in at 9.15 p.m. and then at 10.10 p.m. were told they had to leave the pub.’

He said that she received no refund on the night nor did she receive one since. ‘We don’t even know how to go about it because she just paid in on the door. It was only her second time there but it will be her last,’ said the girl’s father.

‘Luckily we had stayed in town on the night and were able to collect her but some children were left waiting on the street until midnight for buses.’