Five mini-pubs are to be laid on at next month's Ireland-Scotland match at Lansdowne Road in an attempt by the IRFU to help stagger the arrival and departure of rugby fans, a court heard yesterday.
Judge Esmond Smyth was told in Dublin Circuit Civil Court that it was now common practice at international games elsewhere to provide the enticement of alcoholic drinks and scheduled entertainment to avoid last-minute crowd crushing and surging.
Mr Tom Morgan, counsel for a publican, Mr Patrick Madigan, said the gardai had challenged an order of the District Court permitting the sale of alcoholic drinks in five temporary bars before and after the Ireland-Scotland international on February 7th next.
Ms Constance Cassidy, counsel for the State, said the Garda authorities had appealed the order because of their concern for public safety. They also believed the match did not constitute a special event, as specified by the Intoxicating Liquor Act, for the granting of an occasional drinks licence.
Mr Morgan said that if the forthcoming international game, before 49,000 spectators and a television audience close on six million, did not constitute a special event, then the legislation had little or no meaning.
"This is not a fake notion plucked out of the air by the IRFU. The practice has had official status in Ireland since publication of the Hamilton Report on Public Safety and Crowd Control after the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster," Mr Morgan said.
He said that the IRFU, which supported Mr Madigan's application for a licence, planned exhibitions of sky diving, the provision of a huge TV screen, and entertainment by both the Garda and Army bands.
Mr Morgan said the IRFU had no drinks licence. While the two clubs which used the grounds, Lansdowne and Wanderers, did have licences, these were confined to club members and their guests.
Free drinks were dispensed in corporate hospitality centres, but only to VIPs.
He said there would be no glasses, bottles or beer cans, and drinks would be served only in plastic beakers. Drinks would not be allowed on to the terraces or stands.
Judge Smyth said international matches were great modern-day occasions and spectacles. The IRFU's intention of encouraging the notably lethargic Irish rugby fan into the stadium a little earlier than normal was not unreasonable.
Applying specific conditions to the licence, Judge Smyth allowed the bars to be opened from 1:15 p.m. until 2:30 p.m., closing half an hour before the 3 p.m. kick-off, and reopening on the final whistle - which would be about 4:30 p.m. - until 6 p.m.
He granted the Gardai authority, in the event of a threat to public safety, to order the immediate closure of one, or more, or all of the bars.