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A former barman told a court on Friday he served drinks to about 30 members of the Oireachtas Golf Society who retired to the resident’s bar of the Clifden Station House Hotel until 2.30am following a dinner held in the hotel earlier.
“They were all standing around, drinking, chatting and singing. They were having a good time,” Anthony Curran said while giving evidence on the second day to the ‘Golfgate’ hearing at Galway District Court.
Independent TD Noel Grealish and former Fianna Fáil senator Donie Cassidy, along with hoteliers John Sweeney and James Sweeney, each deny they organised an Oireachtas Golf Society event in breach of pandemic restrictions at the Station House Hotel in Clifden on August 19th, 2020.
Mr Curran, who is in his early twenties, said he had worked as a part-time barman and waiter at the hotel since 2016 but no longer worked since last year.
He recalled serving and clearing glasses from tables at the function and recalled using a section of a partition between two rooms which was opened to allow staff pass between both areas.
Talking
He recalled seeing people talking at tables. After the event most people either left the hotel, while up to 30 ended up in the hotel’s residents’ bar, he said.
In reply to Mr Eoghan Cole BL, prosecuting, Mr Curran said: “Thirty people ended up in the residents’ hotel bar. They were standing around in groups, drinking, chatting and singing, after the event.
When asked by Mr Cole how long the guests stayed in the residents’ bar, Mr Curran replied: “Until about 2.30am when we were told to stop serving them.”
He confirmed the residents’ bar was the only bar in the hotel at the time, while the Signal bar was the public bar, located in an adjacent building.
“In relation to this residents’ bar, what did you see happening there?” Mr Cole asked.
Mr Curran said he had been collecting glasses from tables at first in the dining rooms and then he went to the residents’ bar where he saw up to 30 people.
He worked behind the bar with another barman, Jack Folan.
“We were serving drink. People were coming up to the counter to get drinks,” he said.
He confirmed to Mr Cole that there was no table service in the residents’ bar.
He said the bar closed when they were told to stop serving at 2.30am by John Sweeney.
Full
Colm Smyth SC, for Mr Cassidy, put it to him that the hotel was full to capacity with guests of all kinds, and not just those attending the Golf Society function.
Residents, he said, would be entitled to be catered for in the residents’ bar. “Not everybody in the bar may have been at the Golf ‘do’,” he suggested to witness.
“From what I could see, everyone in the residents’ bar knew each other,” Mr Curran replied.