Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1960

Limited restaurant certificate.

9.—The Act of 1927 is hereby amended by the insertion after section 12 of the following section:

“12A. (1) Where on application to a Justice of the District Court in relation to premises to which an on-licence is attached or on the occasion of an application for a new on-licence, the applicant requests the Court to certify that any portion of the premises to which the application relates is a restaurant for the purposes of section 13 of this Act, the Court, if satisfied, in relation to that portion of the premises, after hearing the officer in charge of the Garda Síochána for the licensing area that—

(a) it is structurally adapted for use and bona fide and mainly used as a restaurant, refreshment house or other place for supplying substantial meals to the public,

(b) it does not include a public bar or part of a room in another part of which there is a public bar, and

(c) there is public access to it otherwise than through a public bar,

shall grant to the applicant a certificate (in this section referred to as a limited restaurant certificate) certifying that that portion of the premises is a restaurant for the purposes of section 13 of this Act.

(2) The Court shall not entertain an application for a limited restaurant certificate unless and until satisfied that not less than ten days before the date on which the application is proposed to be made notice in writing of the intention to make the application was given to the officer in charge of the Garda Síochána for the licensing area.

(3) Every limited restaurant certificate shall unless sooner revoked under this section remain in force until the next annual licensing district court for the licensing area.

(4) A Justice of the District Court may, on the application of the officer in charge of the Garda Síochána for the licensing area, at any time revoke a limited restaurant certificate if he is satisfied, after hearing the officer and the holder of the certificate, that the portion of the premises to which the certificate relates has ceased to be structurally adapted for use or to be bona fide or mainly used as a restaurant, refreshment house or other place for the supplying of substantial meals to the public or that it includes a public bar or part of a room in another part of which there is a public bar or that there is no public access to it otherwise than through a public bar.

(5) Every holder of a limited restaurant certificate shall cause the certificate to be displayed prominently in the portion of the premises to which the certificate relates.

(6) Where, in relation to any portion of a licensed premises, a limited restaurant certificate is in force—

(a) the portion of the premises to which the certificate relates shall be deemed, for the purposes of section 13 of this Act, but not otherwise, to be premises which are for the time being a restaurant, and

(b) subsection (1) of section 17 of this Act shall be construed and have effect in relation to a person who is found on those premises at a time specified in the said section 13 at which the consumption of intoxicating liquor is permitted with a meal as if references therein (other than the reference in paragraph (b)) to a licensed premises were references to a public bar in licensed premises.

(7) In this section ‘public bar’ includes any place exclusively or mainly used for the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor.”