yoyo wrote: » If off licenses are forced to close at 10 then I can see why pubs should be forced to close at whichever time their license requires so. Both laws are ridiculous, but I don't see any off licenses staying open serving after 10 as there can be severe fines/loss of license and I don't see why pubs/nightclubs should be treated any different. The law is the law (and its ridiculous but thats life...) Nick
chuky_r_law wrote: » clearly pubs and nightclubs were being treated differently before they started enforcing this silly law. they were throwing a blind eye to them staying open later for years, probably because they saw that it was a ridiculous law too. why that position has changed now is beyond me.
yoyo wrote: » I'd say the same about the off license laws being silly, but they are very much enforced. I can't see why pubs should be treated any different. I'm not for one moment saying I agree with it, but both premises have a specific license to serve booze, and both should be adhering to the terms of that license. It does seem the pubs are more lax about it than the off licenses, but shouldn't expect to play the poor struggling card when they purchase a license with explicit opening/closing hours and are then paid a visit by Gardai encforcing the law. Nick
Hugh Echoing Orchid wrote: » Well for a start the 10 o'clock closing for off licences is a hard rule set for the country as a whole whereas late licences are set by the local district court and Galway district court has set a stricter closing time (1am) than the majority of the country (2am or 2:30am) so really turning a blind eye to the extra hour or so was just bringing Galway in line with the rest of the country.
in fairness they should have been lobbying hard all these years trying to get galway late licence laws in line with the rest of the country, but i still dont think you can blame them now for feeling hard done by when the gaurds, in their infinite wisdom, suddenly decided that this was an offence worth pursuing.
yoyo wrote: » I agree with you it is ridiculous, but you also can't have that much sympathy for them either as they are knowingly breaking the rules staying open later. It could well be the case that if other pubs are buying a late license in Galway they are the ones getting annoyed if other pubs are staying open later and not paying like they are. Who knows what reason the Gards are pursuing this but there may well be genuine complaints have been made. Nick
yoyo wrote: » If the pubs wanted to stay open later they could buy a late license. I'm sure the pubs buying a late license would be annoyed if the pub down the road didn't have one but stayed open late anyways. Even though the opening hours are not country wide they are applicable to the publican and their license, its up to the publicans to complain to the local councillors or whoever to have the closing time raised from 1-2. I agree with you it is ridiculous, but you also can't have that much sympathy for them either as they are knowingly breaking the rules staying open later. It could well be the case that if other pubs are buying a late license in Galway they are the ones getting annoyed if other pubs are staying open later and not paying like they are. Who knows what reason the Gards are pursuing this but there may well be genuine complaints have been made. Nick
chuky_r_law wrote: » my heart doesn't exactly bleed, but i do feel sorry for those whose jobs may be at risk but again i still think that they are being treated unfairly. whatever about closing time being 1am for a late licence in galway, im sure they knew that they were operating in a grey area of the law, seeing as the gaurds were allowing them to operate. that grey area shouldnt have been there in the first place. no one knows exactly what motives the gaurds have for doing this in the first place but law should have been tighter so as they cant do what they are doing now just to make a point. that is too much authority for the gardai to have. to say that they are only doing their job is nonsense. and as was pointed out earlier, the gardai are wasting their own time by sending gaurds around to all these establishments, making sure they keep to the letter of the law. im sure these gaurds could be doing something more useful than this
But they are buying late licences thats the point but the late licence in Galway technically only allows pubs open until 1am Monday to Thursday whereas in Dublin or Limerick the same late licence would allow opening until 2am or maybe even 2:30am. Late licences cost a bomb and in reality its only right that the Guards have always turned a blind eye to the extra hour (up to 2am) which Galway pubs stayed open. Paying the extortionate late licence fee to just be allowed open until 1am is madness. That last hour is also a profitable one for pubs as people tend to drink faster (rounds of shots) and drink more expensive drinks (double vodkas and mixers etc) so this is the period that really pays having a late licence. I know personally speaking I could spend nearly as much money in the last hour as in the 4 or 5 hours drinking before it.
yoyo wrote: » If the late license only gives them until 1, well then people working there should know that they will be working an hour less than in other counties. I can't see how they would loose their job just because a premises closes an hour early.
chuky_r_law wrote: » i thiink it will blow over soon anyway. i reckon that when the next batch of late licences are up for grabs they will most likely bring local licencing laws in-line with everywhere else. and if they dont it really would be a sorry time for galway
chuky_r_law wrote: » i thiink it will blow over soon anyway. i reckon that when the next batch of late licences are up for grabs they will most likely bring local licencing laws in-line with everywhere else.
inisboffin wrote: » Is no one else getting a little happy at the thought of Speakeasys?
BhoscaCapall wrote: » I was in an unnamed nightclub last night which stayed open until around 2am. I was sickened at such a brazen breach of the law and had to leave early and phone the guards. lol jk what sort of sad tosser gives a crap
dloob wrote: » I suppose someone who likes the see the law actually enforced rather than the Bertie culture of the nod and the wink that you espouse.
Rob A. Bank wrote: » There is only one answer to this madness... Picket the Garda Station !
chuky_r_law wrote: » most good local pubs are sheebeens already!! tbh most of the places i drink wont matter a jot whether the licencing laws change or not. i have quite often found myself drinking away in pubs at 4 or 5 in the morning in places that wouldnt have a notion of paying for the late licence. if this was taken away from me would i start going in to pubs that do have a late licence...front door...roisins...kellys...skeff??? not a chance!! i like to go for a quiet late pint, not a party! my local gets raided by the cops a couple times every year. nothing ever happens over this. they just have to do the rounds every now and then. as im sure this will blow over.
JustMary wrote: » I don't have your stamina (I flake by 2am, generally), but agree with your overall sentiments re not going to the "name" pubs. And yes, I do knowingly break the law sometimes .... and take my chances re getting caught / arrested / convicted.
BhoscaCapall wrote: » Just how subservient do you have to be to want to see laws enforced purely because they are laws? Tragic.
JFK, Septemeber 30, 1962 wrote: This is as it should be, for our Nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny. The law which we obey includes the final rulings of the courts, as well as the enactments of our legislative bodies. Even among law-abiding men few laws are universally loved, but they are uniformly respected and not resisted. Americans are free, in short, to disagree with the law but not to disobey it. For in a government of laws and not of men, no man, however prominent or powerful, and no mob however unruly or boisterous, is entitled to defy a court of law. If this country should ever reach the point where any man or group of men by force or threat of force could long defy the commands of our court and our Constitution, then no law would stand free from doubt, no judge would be sure of his writ, and no citizen would be safe from his neighbors.
EuskalHerria wrote: » Bertie culture is best summed up in individuals who took as much as they could, for as long as they could. This is an entirely different issue. At stake here are a collective group of businesses and workers losing their jobs based on geography. It's as simple as that really. The pub and club trade has suffered hugely over the last number of years and anything to further cut their income will be devastating to business and jobs.
Wompa1 wrote: » The NUIG Students Union should stay out of it. Their ****e hawkin over the last few years means if they are behind something you'd have to wonder if it is a good idea.