*The Match Maker Bar in Lisdoonvarna.
THOSE seeking love at this year’s month-long Lisdoonvarna match-making festival in North Clare have received a boost in their romance prospects.
This follows a District Court judge giving revellers descending on the North Clare town for this September’s Lisdoonvarna match-making festival an additional 30 minutes party time across the town’s pubs during selected nights this month on last year.
The festival is Europe’s largest singles festival and at Ennis District Court today (Wednesday), Judge Alec Gabbett granted publicans across Lisdoonvarna the blanket extension of opening hours to serve alcohol to 2am through ‘an area exemption for a Special Event’ application under Section 10 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962.
Last year, Judge Gabbett cut back the blanket extension to 1.30am after Garda concerns.
As a result of the order for this year’s festival to serve alcohol to 2am, the publicans have secured the extension for 12 nights across Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for four weekends of the festival with the first night of extended opening hours to commence on Friday September 5th and the final night to be Sunday, September 28th.
Acting as agent in the case for M Petty & Co, solicitor for the publicans, John Casey told the court that the publicans were seeking a blanket extension to 2.30am.
Mr Casey commented that it “takes a while for people attending the festival to get going”.
Asked by Judge Gabbett if there was any objection to the 2.30am extension application, Sgt John Burke said that Gardaí were seeking an extension to 1.30am “as it was last year”.
He said that from a policing point of view, Lisdoonvarna is quite isolated “and 1.30am would be preferable to the Gardaí”.
Judge Gabbett said that a blanket extension to 2am “is sufficient”.
He commented, “The good old days of 2.30am extensions are long gone”.
Those licensed premises listed on the application seeking the extension are The Irish Arms, The Ravine, The Ritz, The Rathbaun, The Royal Spa, The Imperial, The Hydro, The Matchmaker, The Roadside Tavern, The Thomond, White’s Castle and the Wild Honey Inn.
