The lights may go out on one of Galway's oldest ballroom dancing venues unless the Garda, who have introduced stricter conditions for bar exemptions in the city, make an exception in the case of the Warwick Hotel in Salthill, Galway District Court heard yesterday.
Mr Dermot Kilfeather, solicitor, who applied for a bar exemption on behalf of the hotel, said that the new conditions would "sound the death-knell of ballroom dancing", which had been taking place every Sunday night for over 50 years in the hotel's ballroom.
Inspector Tony O'Dowd said that he would have no objection to the application provided the new conditions were applied. These stipulated a 45-minute break from 11.30 p.m. during which the house lights would have to be raised and an announcement made that meals were being served. He said that gardai would routinely inspect premises to ensure this. Mr Kilfeather said it was unfair to treat the Sunday night ballroom dance in the same way as discos. The function attracted an older age group and took place between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. He appealed to the court not to apply the conditions indiscriminately.
Judge John Garavan said it was fair to say this was not like a disco situation and he asked the gardai to examine the ballroom on Sunday night and to come to some arrangement with the owners before he granted the application which was before the court. The conditions, he said, were to apply in this instance.