Dunnes Stores (West Street, Drogheda) fined and ordered to close for 4 days...

Lord TSC

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0216/1224330114326.html

A girl who was 15 years old on October 5th last gave evidence of having bought four bottles of Smirnoff Ice in an operation supervised by plainclothes gardaí.

She said she was not asked for her age or for identification when making the purchase. The court was told that the sales assistant was dismissed from her job.

Judge Mitchell said that an aggravating factor in the case was that a duty manager was standing beside the assistant when the sale was being made and did not intervene.

Shocked that we actually are enforcing underage drinking laws in Drogheda for once :P

m.j.w

I'm 28 and got asked for id in dunnes in scotch hall last week and color cross last night. This must be why

PinkFly

Sure she probably never looked up from the till and threw her change and receipt at her when she was serving her, that's how it usually goes in there!!

The Big Red Button

I feel sorry for the sales assistant who lost her job under these circumstances.

Yes, the laws on underage drinking should be enforced - but it seems just wrong to set people up to be caught out like this.

Slunk

Don't really feel sorry for her. It's probably one of the main things they are told when they start, or I hope it is. Also hope the duty manager was held somewhat responsible standing next to her. This needs to happen more often

whelan1

i'm 39 , last year i was asked for id in sainsburys:)

tony81

I was at a bar in Seattle-Tacoma airport and they id'd a man who was clearly in his 70s. Their policy was to ID *everyone* (which makes some sense as every passenger carries photo ID)

TO_ARTHUR!

I remember one night, driving through town and on west street outside barrocos (Mods: remove, if not allowed), there was an unmarked squad car with one plain clothed garda and a teenage girl dressed up for going out coming out of the bar. They were speaking with the occupants of the car, in a way that made it look like they were trying not to be noticed (ie. walking with the car facing forwards).

I think it's desperate that they try and set up pubs and shops like this, and believe me, I've heard of a few more incidents like this happening. However, the law is the law, no matter how bad people think it can be, and judging by the amount of under 18 girls that do be in the nightclubs of Drogheda over any weekend getting locked, (while many a fella is turned form the door:mad:, with the aforementioned establishment being a prime culprit for this (again, mods, delete/edit what ye deem necessary)) there is still work to be done.

MugMugs

TO_ARTHUR! wrote: »

I think it's desperate that they try and set up pubs and shops like this, and believe me, I've heard of a few more incidents like this happening. However, the law is the law, no matter how bad people think it can be, and judging by the amount of under 18 girls that do be in the nightclubs of Drogheda over any weekend getting locked, (while many a fella is turned form the door:mad:, with the aforementioned establishment being a prime culprit for this (again, mods, delete/edit what ye deem necessary)) there is still work to be done.

Why is desperate to set up these places? There wouldn't be an issue if they were checking for ID. In fact, this wouldn't be an issue if that assistant didn't break the law in the first place.

And how do you know that this isn't being done to nightclubs and that clubs aren't raided?

TO_ARTHUR!

I guess, I was bemoaning the the state of affairs that it has had to come to these set ups. As I believe, the rule in shops and supermarkets is that if you look like you're under 21 then you're gonna get asked for id. Perhaps the girl looked older than she was.

And I said it was desperate because for someone like myself who lives in the countryside, when one loses your only shop within walking distance and the car isn't available, then what else or where else is one supposed to do or go if i've run out of a certain item of food in the house? It's all well and good, bringing in these new powers for the gardai but once again the powers that be didn't think these things through and any potential bad consequences the closure might have other than a few days income or pay docked from the shop and it's staff.

To be fair, in Drogheda, the only time I've ever seen a bar or nightclub being raided was either to do with opening hours or loud music coming from the venue. I was out a lot over Christmas, in both bars and clubs and there were several underage people getting served. And I know because I know the underage people. So I ask you, where were the gardai on those nights?

Look, I'm not trying to argue with you, I just think that if there is one rule for vendors of alcohol, then why is it not universally enforced on them all?

MugMugs

I'm not arguing, just discussing. You can't generalize here. I've only been in one pub in all my years boozing that was raided. That doesn't mean that pubs aren't raided.

You can't say that pubs and clubs aren't set up just as much as all of these shops!
I think what the Gardai have done here is a good proactive positive move. Had this article been about a young girl who was served and choked on her own vomit would we be arguing that the Gardai aren't doing enough to stop this?

Seems like the Gardai are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't.

TO_ARTHUR!

And I'm not saying that pubs and clubs are not being raided because I've been in several that have, I'm just saying that rarely, with the exception of one bar, is underage drinking the reason for the raid. This is just my own experience in the context of my town, I'm not saying that bars and clubs don't get raided. Perhaps they do, where you happen to live. I was talking about how closures of shops can cause an inconvenience for some.

But yes, more often than not, the gardai are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to enforcing drinking legislation but in addressing issues of underage drinking, there are more things that need to be tackled than just punishing the shop for selling the stuff to minors. It was indeed a proactive move and with some hope it will encourage this shop as well as others in the town to tighten up there procedures as regards these types of sales occurring. Had the outcome, as you said, been different then yes also, I would see the gardai being criticized for inaction. In the case of youth alcohol consumption, the authorities,(and I'm not just talking about the police here) as well as society, need to take a greater approach towards discouraging young people from partaking in underage drinking. It should involve parents, schools, the community and the gardai in addition to other groups.

But to return to the main jist of what I was saying, there can be other ways of punishing the shops, than shutting them down temporarily, perhaps a hefty fine in place of potential lost earnings would be just as big a discouragement to sell booze to kids and in that way Arthurius can walk to the shop instead of having to get a lift to the nearest one because of a sometimes ill-conceived mercantile punishment.