[ILUG-Social] pubs open on sunday ?

[kevin lyda]

On Thu, Mar 28, 2002 at 02:38:13PM +0000, Niall Walsh wrote:
> That's exactly the point!   Each pub owner in the country could refuse
> personally to open on Good Friday, they are under no obligation to open
> any day of the year HOWEVER they ARE under obligation NOT to open on
> Good Friday, even if they are Muslims, Agnostics or Devil worshippers!
> The government could not require a pub to open on Good Friday as a
> christian publican could state that it is against his religion and he
> would have a constitutional defense.

ok, i'm not religious, i do believe in separation of church and state
(though i'm not certain the irish constitution provides for that), and in
general i'm not keen on the opening hours of a lot of irish businesses -
never mind pubs on two days a year.

however, to be fair, there could be an argument for it that might
have *some* merit.  a vast majority of the gardaí (sp?) are catholic.
and open pubs require more garda.  the state could argue it is closing
the pubs on those days because it isn't sure of its ability to fully
staff the gardaí.

oh, and most muslims don't consume alcohol.  so there's one group that's
probably ok with irish gov't policy on pub closures.

kevin

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