A 73-year-old farmer will go on trial in Donegal Town today charged with operating a ‘shebeen’ in a shed at his home called the ‘Bog Hotel’.
The trial date for the case against Patsy Brogan – fixed last month – set aside time today for the trial at Donegal District Court.
At a previous hearing defence solicitor Paudge Dorrian said the pensioner will be “contesting” a charge that he sold beer and spirits at the premises outside Inver, Co. Donegal, on September 25 last year.
The summons was brought against Mr Brogan – pictured here with his 29-year-old Polish girlfriend – on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions by Inspector Denis Joyce.
Brogan was cleared by a court last year of running an illegal bar in his converted shed when Donegal County Council sued him for a breach of planning laws.
He told that court that he doesn’t charge for drink and the judge in that case found the converted shed was not in breach of planning laws and was not unlike private bars in homes across the country where families shared drinks with friends.