Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1962

Unlicensed drinking premises.

26.—(1) In this section “unlicensed drinking premises” means premises to which an on-licence is not attached, which are not the premises of a club registered under the Registration of Clubs Acts and which are used or made available for the consumption of intoxicating liquor therein by persons resorting to them other than the bona fide occupier of the premises, a member of the family of the occupier, a person residing or working in the premises (who are referred to in this section as excepted persons) or a bona fide private guest of any of those persons.

(2) A person shall not be in or consume intoxicating liquor in unlicensed drinking premises unless he is an excepted person or a bona fide private guest of an excepted person.

(3) An occupier of premises that are unlicensed drinking premises shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and, if the premises in respect of which he was so convicted continue, after the conviction, to be unlicensed drinking premises, he shall be guilty of a further offence and liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds for each day on which the contravention was so continued.

(4) (a) A person who supplies intoxicating liquor to premises that he knows to be unlicensed drinking premises for consumption by persons prohibited, by virtue of subsection (2) of this section, from consuming intoxicating liquor in those premises shall be deemed to aid and abet another person in the commission of an offence under subsection (3) of this section.

(b) A person who supplies intoxicating liquor to unlicensed drinking premises pursuant to orders of more than one person (other than an excepted person) within a period of three days shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to know that the premises are unlicensed drinking premises.

(5) A person who contravenes subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(6) Where an offence under subsection (3) of this section, or the offence of aiding and abetting the commission of such an offence, is committed by a person who holds a licence for the sale of intoxicating liquor by retail, the offence shall be deemed, for the purposes of Part III (which relates to the endorsement of licences) of the Act of 1927, to be an offence to which that Part of that Act applies, but where the person holds more than one such licence, a conviction of the offence shall be recorded on such one, only, of the licences as the Court by which the person is convicted considers appropriate.

(7) In a prosecution for an offence under this section in relation to any premises—

(a) it shall be a good defence to show—

(i) that the premises are bona fide used as a club (other than a club registered under the Registration of Clubs Acts) established and conducted for purposes not connected with the consumption of intoxicating liquor,

(ii) that the intoxicating liquor (if any) to which the alleged offence relates had been brought to the premises not more than twelve hours before the occasion to which the prosecution relates by or on behalf of members of the club for consumption by members of the club, and

(iii) that intoxicating liquor is not habitually or frequently consumed in the club premises and is not stored therein,

(b) it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that a person found on the premises to which the prosecution relates is not there as the bona fide private guest of an excepted person, and

(c) if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court before which the prosecution is heard that stocks of intoxicating liquor owned by different persons (other than excepted persons) are kept in the premises, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the premises are unlicensed drinking premises.

(8) A person found in unlicensed drinking premises on any occasion and charged with the commission of an offence under this section shall not be convicted of the offence—

(a) if, in the absence of evidence that he consumed intoxicating liquor on the premises on the occasion, he states on oath in the Court before which the charge is heard that he did not consume intoxicating liquor on the premises on the occasion and did not intend to do so, or

(b) if he shows to the satisfaction of the Court that he did not know that the premises were unlicensed drinking premises.

(9) (a) Where a Justice of the District Court is satisfied on the information on oath of a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Inspector that there is reasonable ground for supposing that, at any premises, an offence under this section has been, is being or is about to be committed, the Justice may issue a search warrant under this subsection.

(b) The search warrant shall authorise a named member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Inspector, accompanied by such other members of the Garda Síochána as that member thinks proper, to enter the premises at any time within forty-eight hours after the issue of the warrant, if need be by force, to inspect the premises and any books and documents found there, and to take the name and address of any person found there.

(c) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant any person who, when his name and address are demanded of him under this subsection, fails to give them or gives a name or address which such member has reason to believe to be false or misleading.

(d) Any person who obstructs or impedes a member of the Garda Síochána in the exercise of his powers under this subsection or who, on being asked to give his name and address by such member, fails to give them or gives a name or address which is false or misleading shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.

(e) If a member of the Garda Síochána is obstructed or impeded in entering any premises or any part thereof in the exercise of his powers under this subsection it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that that premises were unlicensed drinking premises.