Former lord mayor of Dublin Nial Ring and his business partner have been spared criminal records over being found intoxicated in an office during the early days of Covid-19 restrictions.
Mr Ring (65), of St Laurence Road, Clontarf, a Dublin City councillor, and former pub owner Liam McGrattan (70), of Clontarf Road, pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 4 of the Health Act, prohibiting people from leaving their residences without a reasonable excuse, on April 17th, 2020.
Gardaí on patrol in Ballybough saw the shutters come up at the Ref pub at about 11pm and three men leaving in separate directions.
Sgt Farrah Fox told Dublin District Court it took 45 minutes for someone to let gardaí in after they went to investigate. They went to an office above but separate to the pub, where they found Mr Ring, Mr McGrattan and three others. She said they had “a lot of different stories about what they were doing”.
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There were 37 glasses in the dishwasher and the group appeared to be intoxicated, the court heard.
The prosecution proceeded on Tuesday after the failure of a High Court challenge brought by some of the accused to the constitutionality of laws brought in during the pandemic.
Defence barrister Peter Maguire said that Mr Ring, an Independent city councillor, had done substantial work for his marginalised area and, at the time, was using the office to distribute leaflets with information about Covid-19.
The barrister said Mr Ring was regarded as an essential worker, but he clarified that his client was admitting a technical breach of the law and was apologetic, embarrassed and remorseful. Counsel submitted that Mr Ring had received a significant penalty indirectly due to the adverse publicity the case had brought.
Counsel said Mr McGrattan was trying to order personal protective equipment (PPE) from Canada and was in the office late because of the time difference. The judge heard that he apologised profoundly to the court.
Counsel stressed that both Mr Ring and Mr McGrattan worked as business partners in the office, which was separate from the pub. Two others arrested that night were given the benefit of the Probation Act previously and spared court convictions.
Mr Maguire said his clients were “throwing themselves at the mercy of the court”.
Judge Jones ordered Mr Ring and Mr McGrattan to each donate €1,500 to the Pieta House charity. The money was paid within minutes and the judge struck out their cases, sparing them criminal records.
