A publican's story that customers had been legally restrained from smoking outside the Hartstown House pub in Clonnsilla, Dublin, was a complete smokescreen, the Circuit Civil Court heard yesterday.
Mr Hugh O'Keeffe, counsel for Eurospar which owns the bulk of the area surrounding the pub, told Judge Michael O'Shea his client's main complaints related to drinking in an unlicensed area and trespass.
Mr O'Keeffe said it seemed publican Tom Meagher and his son, also Tom, had spent most of their time talking to the media and trying to make the case that the injunction Eurospar obtained on July 30th was connected with the Government's smoking ban.
"It has nothing to do with the smoking ban," Mr O'Keeffe said.
He said the pub owners had put up a canopy outside Hartstown House with arranged seat- ing and Eurospar was claiming this constituted trespass on its property. Eurospar had also grounded its injunction on nuisance arising from the consumption of alcohol by some of the pub's customers in an unlicensed area of Eurospar property.
He said Hartstown House was located in the middle of a shopping centre car-park area the bulk of which was the property of Eurospar apart from a small area which belonged to Hartstown House.
Eurospar had objected to the placing of the canopy and seating outside the pub and drinking by pub customers on Eurospar property. The area was an uninsured area and if there was an accident Eurospar could be held responsible. Mr O'Keeffe said there had been a wilful breach of the original court order restraining continuation of the practice and Eurospar had kept a diary and had taken pictures which revealed that unlicensed drinking continued on its property.
Ms Catherine Duggan, counsel for Hartstown House, sought an adjournment to facilitate a maps and documents search to establish who owned the property on which the canopy and seating had been placed.
She said the terms of the publican's lease allowed for the canopy to be put in place but the chairs and tables had been removed. Mr Meagher had asked customers going outside to smoke not to take their drinks with them but there was very little he could do about it.
Judge O'Shea adjourned the proceedings to allow the Hartstown House owners to put in an affidavit replying to Eurospar's allegations. He directed that the interim injunction remain in place until further court order.