A coach and four through Charlie's liquor law
In 1960, the then Minister for Justice Charles Haughey TD brought in a major revamp to the liquor licensing laws in Ireland. It was a 'root and branch' set of new regulation to a tranche of laws which hadn't changed much in more than 30 years, and in some instances a century beyond that. Among the provisions was the elimination of the old 'bona fide' law which allowed anyone who was more than three miles from their home to be served drink beyond the standard closing time. In effect, as 'bona fide travellers', they could be served 24 hours a day if the publican was so pleased to do.
Most publicans, though, didn't want to be kept up all night by a couple of doggy-men coming back from Shelbourne Park races, slobbering over a couple of pints. But the new Act did do away with a genuine excuse for having people on the premises 'after hours'.
Over a few drinks with a lawyer pal — later to become a County State Solicitor — Kilcullen publican James J Byrne Jr came up with an idea to get over the more stringent regulations on closing time, which had become seriously important because his public relations abilities had made The Hideout a very popular pub indeed.
As with all best ideas, the essence was in its simplicity. The pub had a specifically licensed area in a map lodged with its licence, but on the property there were yards and stores which were not licensed to sell alcoholic drink.
Now that there was no 'bona fide' excuse to serve people 'after hours', he set up a lounge in one of the store areas. It had a piano, was comfortably furnished to the same level as the pub itself, and didn't have any direct access to the licensed part of the premises.
During the day any of those locker 'tenants' could ask for, and pay for, any amount of drink they wanted to be put in their lockers. And when closing time came and they had to leave the pub, all of the company simply trooped out the front door and around the corner into the 'Locker Lounge'. Those who weren't 'Hideout Tenants' could be invited as guests by those who were. And could carry with them their own share of drink in 'carry-outs' if they wanted to. With no more disruption than might be involved in going to the toilets, they could all carry on with the fun of the night. But now, for the tenants, using the prepaid-for drink delivered into their lockers.
It was a small thing that got swiftly very big, making the lead story in the Sunday Irish papers and later even featuring on the front of the Sunday Times almost half a century before it had an Irish edition.
The Department of Justice was annoyed, to say the least. But when its experts looked at the legal underpinnings, they found that Jim Byrne had 'driven a coach-and-four' through the Act.
Which was not surprising, really, because the barrister who had helped him draw up the legalities of his scheme was later to become an Attorney-General of Ireland.
There were 'copycat' followers, and it took the Government legal eagles two years to get on top of this one. Even then, if he'd wanted to, Jim Byrne could have carried on simply by changing a few words in the 'tenancy' agreement.
But he'd had had his fun. And his publicity. And by the time they closed this loophole, he'd already moved far along to other things. But those are for another day.
(NOTE: As many will know, Jim Byrne Jr was this writer's famous publican father. Some 55 years on, it still makes a fascinating story. This piece was published earlier in the Kildare Nationalist.)
