Club Lapello, a lap-dancing club in the centre of Dublin, scored a first yesterday when it was granted a public dancing licence. Judge Katherine Delahunt said in Dublin Circuit Civil Court no suggestion had been put to the court that anything illegal was taking place in the club in Dame Street.
She said garda∅, who gave evidence of scantily dressed hostesses dancing for male customers, had objected to Starshine View Ltd, trading as Club Lapello, obtaining a public dance licence.
They had based their objections solely on the grounds that the club's basement premises were unsuitable for public dancing and that there was no dance floor for such an activity.
Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for the club's owner, Mr Christopher Kelly, said public dancing had been defined in law as "the movement of a person, with or without music, in a dance in which they were entitled to participate actively" .
He said the District Court had refused to grant a licence on the grounds that the premises were unsuitable and that there had not been a proper public dance floor there at that time.
Mr Walsh said a designated wooden dance floor had since been provided, and the owners had overcome previous difficulties with regard to security and access by garda∅.
Mr Kelly told the court that upmarket patrons, some of them female, paid a £10 admission fee on weeknights and £18 at weekends and drank wine or champagne as they were entertained by table and pole dancing on a dais.
He said the club required a public dancing licence to facilitate patrons dancing with hostesses or with their guests. Ms Sabina Purcell, for the State Solicitor, said there was no practice within the club of people dancing with people rather than at them.
The main activity in the club, apart from table, dais and pole dancing, was lap dancing, where a patron paid an extra fee for a hostess to perform a private dance for him.
Several Garda witnesses gave evidence of having visited the club on 15 occasions both before and since the District Court hearing. Insp Michael Cleary said that Club Lapello was an upmarket club with a respectable clientele which operated satisfactorily. Judge Delahunt said that in building the dance floor and in fully co-operating with the Garda S∅ochβna, both on security and supervision, the club had turned its premises around into what, under the Public Dancing Acts, was a suitable premises.