A popular Dublin pub/restaurant was yesterday described by a judge as "the black hole of Calcutta" on the day a health inspector found live and dead cockroaches in its kitchen.
Palmer's Golden Ball, in Kilternan, was fined £2,500 for 10 breaches of the food hygiene regulations last July. Judge Sean MacBride accepted that while there had been major improvements since, the condition of the premises on July 28th was "horrendous" and represented a danger to the public.
Dublin District Court heard the inspector found three dead cockroaches and one live one in traps set in the kitchen. A barrel of swilled food waste was "bubbling" in the heat in a yard where fruit and vegetables were stored, while both raw and cooked foods were stored at nearly four times the permitted temperature, including cooked ham at 18.1 degrees centigrade and salads at 19.8 degrees. The floors and walls in the kitchen and bar were "filthy", a kitchen flyscreen was not properly fitted and an insect-killing machine did not work. The court heard the inspector found insufficient wash basins and toilets for staff who served up to 1,000 meals per day. A £100,000 biocycle sewage disposal unit which had failed had to be cleaned out every day by a contractor, and there were surfaces so old in places they could not be cleaned and could easily harbour rodents and cockroaches. The cleaning and management system was so poor there was a risk of cross-contamination and E.coli infection.
Health inspector Rosalie Prendergast said she visited the premises on Wednesday, and while there had been significant improvements the main problem was that it was an old building unsuitable for the level of catering. The court heard a planning application for a new kitchen had been rejected following objections by locals. A new plan, which had local support, had been drawn up and would be submitted next month.
Proprietor Brian Palmer said they had taken the matter very seriously and had spent up to £30,000 on interim measures. A hygiene consultant had been employed and the number of meals served reduced to 100 a day.
Mr Conor Bowman BL, for Mr Palmer, threatened to withdraw from the case after Judge MacBride said the premises "could only be described as the black hole of Calcutta".
After an adjournment in which Mr Bowman was called into the judge's chambers, the case continued and Judge MacBride said he had considered at one stage having the pub closed down.
Noting the reported improvements, he imposed £2,500 in fines and ordered the pub to pay £650 costs to the Eastern Health Board, prosecutors in the case.