Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1962

Exemptions for special events.

10.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where, on application to a Justice of the District Court by the holder of a licence in respect of premises situate in any locality not in the county borough of Dublin, it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the application has the approval of a majority of the holders of licences in respect of premises so situate and is in respect of a period during which a special event or special events will take place in or near that locality of such kind that, in the opinion of the Court, the period will be one during which a considerable number of persons will be likely to be attracted to that locality, the Court, if it is satisfied that it is desirable to do so for the accommodation of those persons, may, after hearing the officer in charge of the Garda Síochána for that locality, make an order, subject to such conditions as it thinks proper, exempting the holders of licences in respect of premises; so situate from the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours in respect of those premises at such times and on such days during the period as it thinks fit: provided that, where the period aforesaid exceeds nine days, the exemption shall be limited to such times and days as it thinks fit during a period or periods (not exceeding three) comprising in all not more than nine days.

(2) Any person appearing to the District Court to have a bona fide interest in the matter may appear and give evidence on the hearing of an application under this section.

(3) The District Court shall not entertain an application under this section unless and until satisfied that the applicant has, not less than seven days before the date on which the application is proposed to be made, served notice in writing of the intention to make the application upon the officer in charge of the Garda Síochána for the locality to which the application relates and published the notice in a newspaper circulating in that locality.

(4) Not more than three orders under this section having effect in any particular year shall be made in respect of any particular locality and, where more orders than one having effect in a particular year in respect of a particular locality are made, the number of days to which the orders relate shall not exceed nine in all and such days shall be either consecutive days or divided into not more than three separate periods of a day or consecutive days.

(5) A person in respect of whom an order has been granted under this section shall, if and so long as he complies with the conditions subject to which the order has been granted, be exempt at the times specified in the order from any penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours in respect of the premises to which the order relates but not from any other penalty under those Acts.

(6) An order under this section shall not exempt the holder of a licence that is a six-day licence from the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours on Sundays.

(7) Where, on application to a Justice of the District Court, it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the application has the approval of a majority of the holders of on-licences in respect of premises situate in a locality in respect of which an order under this section has been made, the Court may, at any time before the commencement of the period to which the order relates, revoke the order and, upon such revocation, the order shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, never to have been made.

(8) For the purposes of this and the two next following sections a locality that is situate in a county or other borough, a town (whether or not having commissioners under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854 ) or village, shall include the whole of that borough, town or village, as the case may be, and any surrounding built-up area.