Minister may review law as disco is banned

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is considering amending liquor licensing legislation that he introduced six months ago to allow teenagers hold non-alcohol related events on licensed premises.

The move comes following the cancellation of an under-18s disco in Dublin this week after gardaí claimed the event was in breach of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 2003.

Teenagers queued up outside the Red Box nightclub in Harcourt Terrace yesterday to claim refunds for tickets which they had bought for the disco, which was due to take place last night.

Just four hours before the doors were due to open however, the proprietors were told by gardaí from Pearse Street Station that they would be prosecuted under the Act if the disco went ahead.

Mr John Reynolds, owner of the PoD bar, in which the club is located, said he had received legal advice to the effect that the event did not breach the Act. However, he said: "I could not take the risk of losing my licence."

He noted the bar had held similar discos over the past year, the most recent one on April 4th. On each occasion, local gardaí had been informed of the event, and there had been no complaint.

It is understood a parent of one of the teenagers due to attend last night's event phoned gardaí to point out a provision under the Act barring anyone aged under 18 years from a licensed premises after 9 p.m. unless attending a private function at which a substantial meal was served.

Mr Reynolds said the most appropriate decision would have been to allow the disco go ahead to avoid the risk of a large number of teenagers ending up stranded in town. "It was a reckless decision," Mr Reynolds said. "But I don't blame the gardaí. I blame Minister McDowell who came up with this very poor legislation.

"He wants under-18 events to take place in community centres. But they are not kitted out properly for the sorts of events teenagers want to go to."

A spokeswoman for the Minister said yesterday that Mr McDowell would review the issue as part of a codification of the licensing laws, a Bill on which is due to be published in mid-2004.

She added: "The Minister is willing to consider the possibility of alternative arrangements for functions where the bar remains open but the sale of intoxicating liquor to persons attending the function is not permitted, on condition that such events are properly supervised and controlled." However, Mr Reynolds said Mr McDowell had been lobbied on the issue by the Irish Nightclub Industry Association prior to the introduction of the legislation. "But he chose to ignore us."

Labour Party councillor, Mr Dermot Lacey, who learned of the case through a niece who had bought a ticket for the disco, said the Garda should be held accountable for its "arbitrary" decision to refuse permission for the event. He asked: "How can these young people be expected to respect a decision and an agency that clearly does not respect them?" A Garda spokesman said it had informed the organisers that they appeared to be in breach of the Act, but it would have been up to the courts to establish whether or not this was so.