The former licensee of the Shakespeare Pub, in Parnell St, Dublin, was yesterday convicted of selling counterfeit vodka.
Eugene Carolan, currently unemployed, told Dublin District Court that when he walked into the premises on November 16th, 2001, he was informed by staff that Customs officers were carrying out an inspection.
He went to the basement of the pub where, he told Judge David Anderson, he co-operated fully with the officials carrying out the search. When he was told by Customs officers that bottles of vodka behind the bar were not Smirnoff, as their packaging suggested, he said he was shocked.
The vodka had fake Smirnoff seals and when a "dip-stick" test was carried out to check authenticity the characteristics of Smirnoff vodka were found to be absent.
Carolan said he would usually source his stock from a cash and carry but added it was common practice for pubs to "borrow" stock from each other when they "ran low". The bottles found to be counterfeit had been borrowed, Carolan said. He entered a plea of guilty and was fined €700.
In a seperate case the court heart that Shane Brennan (31), of Dean Swift Rd, Glasnevin, Dublin, was stopped in the "green channel" at Customs in Dublin Airport in March 2002 and found to be carrying 20,000 cigarettes.
Brennan was returning from a holiday in Turkey, at the time. When he was stopped he had told Customs officials the cigarettes were intended as gifts for friends.
The court heard that Brennan (31), was receiving a €131 weekly disability allowance, was supporting an eight-year-old child and was in a long-term relationship.
He pleaded guilty, apologised to the court and was fined €750.
