PUBLICANS COULD LOSE LICENCE IF THEY IGNORE NEW GUIDELINES
PUBLICANS who ignore closure guidelines because of Covid-19 face losing their licenses, a leading solicitor has warned.
Kieran Cleary, a Tipperarybased solicitor and President of the Victims of Crime Association, said that publicans that flout the Government’s direction are putting their licenses and their livelihoods on the line.
Gardaí have no legal right to close down pubs who remain open despite Government guidance to remain shut during the Covid-19 crisis.
However, Mr Cleary told the Irish Daily Mail that publicans could still face sanctions for flouting the recommendations, including closure.
‘Publicans may have been acting in the belief that there is no effective legal sanction currently in existence and that the measures as stated by the Government are only guidelines but this is not correct.
‘There is in fact current legislation, and it has been there for many years, to penalise those who seek to flout or ignore the guidelines.’
The solicitor, who runs Cleary and Co. Solicitors in Clonmel, said that their character will be taken into consideration when they renew their licence.
‘Every September, every publican most apply to the District Court judge in their area for a renewal of their existing liquor licence and the guideline for granting the licence to the person is that the publican who is seeking the licence must be of good, fit and proper character.
The judge will ask the superintendent of An Garda Síochána present in court if they have any objection to renewal of the licence and also ask if there are any objectors in Court to the licence being granted.’ Any member of the public can object to the renewal of a licence.