Pubs opening at 12 on Sundays because no 12 o'clock mass

coylemj · 25-04-2019 03:32PM #1

It is or used to be the case that if there was no local 12 o'clock (noon) mass on a Sunday, the pubs in that parish could apply to be allowed to open at 12 instead of 12:30 p.m.

I recall a case from Lanesborough in Co. Longford back, I think, in the 1970s. Most of the town and the Catholic church is on the Leinster side of the river but there was at least one pub across the bridge on the Connaught and he applied to the local District Court to be allowed open at 12. His solicitor pleaded on the basis that the pubs on the Leinster side (in a different parish) opened at 12, were getting all the business after the (11 or 11:30) mass and his client was missing out on the Sunday morning trade because he couldn't open until 12:30. The judge said his hands were tied, the man's pub was in a parish where there was a 12 mass on Sunday (a few miles up the road) so the application was refused.

Does anyone remember that situation and if so, what was the relevant legislation?

coylemj · 25-04-2019 04:02PM

Answering my own question, it was introduced by S.16 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962.

If a majority of the local publicans supported it and the extended period of opening (from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m.) did not overlap the local 'divine service', a District Justice could grant a permanent exemption from the provisions relating to prohibited hours from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m.

16.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where, on application to a Justice of the District Court by the holder of a licence (not being a six-day licence) in respect of premises situate in any locality not in a county or other borough, it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the application has the approval of a majority of the holders of such licences in respect of premises so situate, the Court may, if it is satisfied that, owing to circumstances in the locality, it is desirable to do so, make an order exempting the holders of all such licences in respect of premises so situate from the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours in respect of those premises for the period between the hours of twelve o'clock and half-past twelve o'clock in the afternoon on Sundays and Saint Patrick's Day.

(2) The District Court shall not make an order under this section in respect of a period during which or part of which a considerable number of people in the locality to which the order would relate would be likely to be attending Divine Service.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1962/en/act/pub/0021/print.html#sec16

Pubs opening at 12 on Sundays because no 12 o'clock mass

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