Dublin 8 pub to reopen for takeaway pints today as Gardaí confirm it’s ‘not an offence’

Taking to social media during the week, owners at Kavanagh’s pub in Dublin 8 confirmed plans to reintroduce takeaway pints as part of their offering from today. 

Saying that they will no longer be “going along” with what is being asked of them regarding the sale of takeaway pints, a message on the pub’s Facebook page reads:

“As our incompetent leaky leaders in Leinster house top up their already exorbitant salaries, businesses like ours are going to the wall.

“We have always been compliant with & very mindful of public health advice but after almost a full year of little or no trade it’s very evident that we’re NOT “All in this together”.

The majority of establishments stopped selling takeaway alcohol after An Taoiseach made comments several weeks ago telling people to “forget about takeaway pints“. Speaking at a press briefing in early January, Martin said that “no publican should be selling takeaway pints”, later adding that “this is a very serious situation we are in” and the phenomenon “leads to gatherings of people which can spread the virus”.

However, Gardaí have since confirmed that selling takeaway pints is currently not an offence – telling The Independent that they are powerless in the situation and can’t stop pubs such as Kavanagh’s from doing so. According to a Garda spokesperson:

“The sale of take away alcohol from licensed premises is not currently a penal regulation and therefore not an offence.”

Header image via Facebook/Kavanagh’s Pub