A LIMERICK publican was found guilty of breaching the ban on smoking in pubs yesterday.
The judge let him off with a warning rather than the statutory fine and applied the Probation Act.
However, the publican, who has since sold the pub, The Bitter End, was critical of the authorities, saying the prosecution should never have been taken and was a waste of taxpayers’ money. The case, heard at Limerick District Court, was taken by the Health Service Executive against The Bitter End Ltd on Bedford Row, Limerick, and the pub’s former proprietor, Declan Dillon.
Aisling Carr, for the executive, told the court the pub was inspected on March 31st and a designated smoking area with a roof was found which was in breach of smoking legislation.
Ms Carr told the court the smoking area would have been allowable if there had been no walls in at least 50 per cent of the structure.
The structure reached about 40 per cent of the recommendations under the legislation.
The solicitor said there had been “no efforts to rectify the problem”, although she accepted Mr Dillon had since left the premises, which closed but which was now under new ownership.
In court, Mr Dillon pleaded guilty to two charges under the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002 and a 2004 amendment to the Act.
Representing himself in court, Mr Dillon said the pub’s designated smoking area was “like many others in Limerick”.
Judge Eamonn O’Brien applied the Probation Act after hearing Mr Dillon had no previous convictions, but warned him: “I’m giving you a chance. If you’re in here again I’ll apply a fine of €3,000.”
Judge O’Brien struck out the same charges against The Bitter End Ltd. The court heard the executive was facing a legal bill of €1,096 for bringing the case against the company and Mr Dillon.
Outside court, Mr Dillon said: “The HSE took the case on this designated smoking area which they said wasn’t compliant, which is fine.
“It probably wasn’t compliant to the full extent of the law, but there’s a lot of smoking premises in town that aren’t fully compliant. We closed the premises down in late May and I informed the HSE that I had received a summons and that we were closed down, and what was the point in wasting the court’s time and legal money and everything with this?
“I spoke to the HSE up as far as last Friday and they told me that they weren’t dropping the case, that they were proceeding with it, which in my opinion is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.”