Gardaí are raiding alcohol-free events for teenagers under the new legislation banning children from licensed premises after 9 p.m.
In one case the owner of a Co Wexford nightclub and bar complex has been unsuccessfully prosecuted for holding alcohol-free discos for under 16s.
Mr Francis Dooley, the owner of the Beacon nightclub in Courtown harbour, said yesterday his weekly alcohol-free events for teenagers have been regularly targeted by gardaí.
Names of teenagers have been taken and they have been warned they were breaking the law by being in the disco.
A Garda spokesman confirmed yesterday that a number of prosecutions are also in train in various parts of the country over the holding of teenage discos in licensed premises. It is understood there will be prosecutions in Galway and Mayo over alcohol-free events for teenagers.
A Garda spokesman said all of these cases related to teenage events in licensed premises as opposed to parents being in a pub with their children after 9 p.m.
The legislation prohibits under 18s from being in the bar area of a licensed premises, and there is a strict definition of that in the legislation, said the Garda spokesman.
He added that in all cases the gardaí would have sent a file to the law officers [State Solicitors], and it would have been they who issued a direction to prosecute the cases. "Ultimately it will be for the courts to decide on this," he said.
The law was introduced by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to combat under-age drinking.
Mr Dooley said yesterday his events are entirely alcohol-free and the bar area is closed and shuttered for the duration of the disco. Teenagers older than 16 are not allowed in.
"These are well-run alcohol-free gigs, totally supervised," he told The Irish Times. "They are in a controlled area where they can come and enjoy themselves. It's better than having them down the beach drinking cans.
"Yet I find myself to be the only person in the country who was prosecuted under this law. It's ridiculous."
Teenagers attending the events have been taken outside by gardaí, had their names taken, and told that it's an illegal event. "Some of their parents have been contacted afterwards by an investigating garda."
Mr Dooley was prosecuted by gardaí following the first raid last October, one month after the introduction of the legislation.
The prosecution was struck out at Gorey District Court last February, as the four teenagers who were named in the summonses were not there to give evidence.
According to local newspaper reports of the case, Sgt Michael O'Connor of Courtown Garda station told the court: "I accept he was not serving alcoholic liquor at the time."
Mr Dooley said his teenage discos are in complete compliance with the legislation as the bar area is shut off and inaccessible. He referred to a Dáil reply by Mr McDowell last October when he said that a "bar counter which is physically closed" did not constitute the bar of a licensed premises under the law.
Mr Dooley said he complied fully with the so-called 9 p.m. watershed law in the bar area of the Beacon complex when alcohol was being served, although many publicans in Courtown found the rules inappropriate for a holiday resort.
"Families are down here staying in small mobile homes. If they want to go out, they can't bring their children with them because of the law. They can't leave them in the mobile home because often they don't have access to their usual babysitter.
"So what does Mr McDowell want them to do - leave the children in the streets, or stay at home in the mobile?"