Refreshment Rooms and Good Friday
 

From 2018 it looks like there will be no licensing restrictions on pubs and bars with regard to Good Friday.

But currently there still is. Can someone specifically point me to the regulations regarding railway station bars/refreshment rooms? I see a lot of conflicting information online, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that you only need to be in possession of a ticket for travel (any ticket: rail, bus, sail, fly) to be served.

You must have an Intercity ticket to be served in a station bar (AFAIK), on board catering have permission to serve alcoholic drinks also.

Have you a link to legislation to back that up? I'm pretty sure it's not correct as the lad with the hobby railway in Donegal was able to get a licence for his bar.
http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=13078

Mark Gleeson's post further down says 5 mile minimum distance.

you are mixing up too different things.

The man in Donegal went to court and got a licence which allowed him to open to sell/display alcohol on Good Friday. Once he has a license, you can buy alcohol from him - provided you are a bone fide traveler, which has been held to be in possession of a ticket to a non local destination. That is where the 5 mile thing comes form and is usually what the courts look at if the guards arrest you.

How the Donegal lad got around that, god knows, I assume no members of the GS have visited him. I also suspect that he simply got a normal pub or hotel licence anyway which are easy to get these days.

If you are that desperate for a pint on that day, I would recommend the Dog Show, its cheaper than the cost of an intercity ticket and probably in better surroundings.

The lad in Donegal applied for (and got) a licence for a railway refreshment room, which allows him to sell alcohol all year round.

Pub licences are €45k on the open market.

My question is solely about railway refreshment rooms and terms to be served alcohol. The regulations apply 7 days a week, but the only enforcement by Irish Rail is on Good Friday, but no-one seems to know for definite what the regulations are.

Is it 5 miles, or an intercity ticket, or neither? As I said my understanding that you had to be in possession of a ticket to travel at some point in the future, regardless of distance or mode, hence making you a "traveller".

Probably because nobody really cares or willing to take a case to have the legislation enforced.

Turn up with a DART ticket and little chance of been served, most others should be fine.

The one and only time I did go, 2013 or 2014, I had no problem with a Dart ticket. Others were told they had to get tickets of Balbriggan, and most people inside were on FTPs.

It'd be nice to know what the actual legislation is.

legislation starts here

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1...en/print#sec14

amended by section 5 of the 1962 act (but not that relevant)

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1...d/en/html#sec5

10 miles according to the law, so depends on where your DART ticket destination is.

how the lad in Donegal is getting away with it I dont know, you'll need to ask the local garda.

Thanks. Exactly what I was after.

So from Connolly (which it doesn't have to be) single (doesn't have to be either) I think we're talking Rush & Lusk, Leixlip Confey, or Bray.

Or a Leap card, never been refused with my annual ticket (they have no way of checking)

The distance rule doesn't apply onboard, so board the 1837 to Rosslare. Easy enough get a beer and get off in Dun Laoghaire