Red Cow fined
The sale was observed by an Environmental Health Inspector as part of a sting operation and the outlet was prosecuted at Dublin District Court by the HSE.
The 15 year-old test-buyer had entered the pub on July 28th last year accompanied by EHO Andrew Byrne who told Judge John Brennan that he’d ordered a drink at the bar while the boy requested and received a token for the cigarette vending machine, the court heard.
A member of the barstaff had asked him his age to which he’d replied that he was 15 and that the cigarettes were for himself.
When Andrew Byrne approached the staff member to say that a test-purchase had just been undertaken she replied that she did not know that the legal age for selling cigarettes was 18, the court heard.
According to the report in the Irish Independent, premises with cigarette vending machines operated by discs had been targeted.
T&S Taverns was also ordered to pay €1,000 in prosecution costs.
