A PUBLICAN has told the High Court it is not her responsibility to say how much a person should drink before driving.
Concepta Kelly was giving evidence in a case in which it is alleged she and her husband served too much alcohol to an elderly customer who was killed in a car accident shortly after leaving their premises in March 2005.
“I am not the Garda Síochána, it is up to the person themselves as to how much they should drink,” Ms Kelly, co-proprietor with her husband, Seamus, of the Diamond Bar in Tullaghan, Leitrim, said.
She was being cross-examined in proceedings in which the court is being asked to make the Kellys partly liable for a compensation payout by the estate of John Connolly, who drove on the wrong side of the road and collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing himself and a woman passenger in the other car.
Anne McSorley, Antrim Road, Belfast, was the deceased passenger and was being driven by her mother Mary Flanagan when their car was hit by Mr Connolly (79), Kinlough, Leitrim, on the Sligo/Bundoran road on March 31st, 2005.
Mr Connolly had been drinking in the Diamond from 11.30am that day and got into his car to drive to his home two miles away at about 3.30pm. The accident occurred about 4pm. Blood tests showed he was three times over the legal limit for driving.
Ms Flanagan, Oakland Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, who was herself injured in the accident, later sued the estate of Mr Connolly, alleging the collision was caused by the negligence and breach of duty of care of Mr Connolly. Liability was admitted and that case was settled for €275,000.
The estate of Mr Connolly then brought what the court was told were “ground-breaking” proceedings seeking indemnity or contribution by the Kellys against that award. The Kellys have denied any liability and claim this is an attempt to “blame somebody else” for the accident which was Mr Connolly’s fault.
It is alleged the publicans acted negligently and in breach of duty of care in serving alcohol to Mr Connolly prior to the collision when, it is claimed, they knew or ought to have known he would drive on a public road.
The case opened on March 10th last and resumed this week.
Under cross-examination yesterday by Edward Walsh SC, for the Connolly estate, Ms Kelly said she served Mr Connolly four or five pints of beer before her husband took over from her in the afternoon. She did not know Mr Connolly had got into his car after leaving the pub because she was not on duty when he left.
She said she had always considered Mr Connolly an “honourable” man who would not get behind the wheel of a car “if he thought he had too much”. Asked if she thought she should caution a customer about drinking and driving, she said that was up to the person themselves, she was “not the Garda Síochána”.
However, if a person was “staggering out the door”, she would advise them to get a taxi.
Ms Kelly, who is a member of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, said she did not follow the Road Safety Authority’s advertisement campaigns about drink-driving and did not feel it was for her to tell people how much to drink.
“It is up to the individual themselves to know their own body. There are people who can drink and drive with three or four pints and people who cannot drive with one,” she said.
Evidence in the case ended yesterday and Mr Justice Kevin Feeney adjourned the matter until next month.