Gardaí seize spirits & beer from ‘shebeen’

April 2003

Gardaí raided a ‘shebeen’ operating in Taghmon early on Sunday morning, seizing a large quantity of beer and spirits and closing down the illegal premises which they said had been secretly operating in the village for years.

They said the shebeen was being run from a converted shed at Stream Street in the village and was frequented by members of the biking fraternity, many of whom came from as far afield as Cork and Waterford to drink at the shebeen, known locally as ‘The Gap’.

Five people, men and women, were present when the gardaí ‘knocked on the door’ at 3.30 a.m.

Sergeant Dan Redmond, who led the raiding team with Sgt. Sean Malone from New Ross, said there was no trouble during the operation, which went very smoothly.

‘It was no different than going into any other pub, and I’m well used to that,’ said Sgt. Redmond.

He said the shebeen had been raided previously, but no evidence had been found in earlier raids that it was being operated as a bar or for other ‘anti-social activities’ which he would not go into detail about.

The raid was carried out on the strength of a warrant issued by Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla under a section of the 1874 Liquor Licensing Act, which gives officers the right to enter the premises and seize the spirits, beer – both in bottles and barrels – and equipment being used in the shebeen, but not to make any arrests.

‘We raided the area in the early hours and we took possession of a bar set-up, the counter, optics, barrels, taps, everything that you would have in a bar. We took possession of the whole contents of the bar,’ said Sgt. Redmond.

He said the successful garda operation had removed ‘a thorn in the side of the gardaí and the local community’, which had been there since before he was posted to the village four and a half years ago.

‘You couldn’t carry out a raid like this unless you have sufficient manpower, and we had sufficient manpower at the weekend,’ said Sgt. Redmond, refusing to disclose how many officers were involved.

He said a file was being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.