The manager and holding company of a lapdancing club which employed a dancer without a work permit were fined yesterday.
A second case against the directors of another lapdance club was dismissed when the State failed to prove that dancers had not been issued with what had become known as "Harney visas" - named after the Tánaiste and former trade and employment minister, Mary Harney.
Donal Harrington (33), Castleraven, Nurney, Co Kildare, was fined €400 after he pleaded guilty to employing a dancer at the now closed club, Honeyz, over Slatterys of Capel Street, Dublin, on January 9th/10th, 2004. The company, Murrgarr Restaurants Ltd, was fined €1,000. Similar charges, under the Employment Permits Act 2003, against directors Deirdre McGarr and Margaret Murray were struck out. Charges against David Pierse Long and Louise Keane, of the Dublin Sports Cafe Ltd (in liquidation), trading as Playmates in Shooters Bar, Parnell Street, Dublin, who pleaded not guilty, were dismissed after Judge Anne Watkin said she had a doubt about the evidence given by the prosecution.
Peter Buckley, a former manager of the work permits section of the Department of Trade and Employment, told Dublin District Court that until 2002, work authorisation visas were granted for dancers. This was stopped following an instruction "from the top" to discontinue it because it was clear that they were mostly going to lapdancers. In the Honeyz case, the defendants also initially denied the charges, but following an adjournment, this was changed to guilty.