Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1962

Exemptions for licensed business on Sunday afternoons.

16.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where, on application to a Justice of the District Court by the holder of a licence (not being a six-day licence) in respect of premises situate in any locality not in a county or other borough, it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the application has the approval of a majority of the holders of such licences in respect of premises so situate, the Court may, if it is satisfied that, owing to circumstances in the locality, it is desirable to do so, make an order exempting the holders of all such licences in respect of premises so situate from the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours in respect of those premises for the period between the hours of twelve o'clock and half-past twelve o'clock in the afternoon on Sundays and Saint Patrick's Day.

(2) The District Court shall not make an order under this section in respect of a period during which or part of which a considerable number of people in the locality to which the order would relate would be likely to be attending Divine Service.

(3) 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.

(4) An order under this section shall, unless sooner revoked under this section, remain in force until the date (if any) specified in the order on which it is to expire or the date of the next annual licensing district court for the locality to which it relates, whichever is the earlier.

(5) A Justice of the District Court may, on the application of any person appearing to the Court to have a bona fide interest in the matter, revoke an order under this section if he is satisfied, after hearing the person on whose application the order was granted and any other person appearing to the Court to have a bona fide interest in the matter, that it is desirable to do so.

(6) Whenever an order is in force under this section in relation to any premises, the holder of the licence in relation to those premises shall be exempted on Sundays and on Saint Patrick's Day during the period between the hours of twelve o'clock and half-past twelve o'clock in the afternoon from any penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to prohibited hours in respect of those premises, but not from any other penalty under those Acts.

(7) The District Court shall not entertain an application under subsection (1) or (5) of this section 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 locality to which the application relates and that not less than seven days before such date the notice was published in a newspaper circulating in that locality.