Liquor license application for Breaffy Woods Hotel withdrawn

An application for the renewal of a liquor license at Breaffy Woods Hotel was withdrawn at Castlebar District Court on Thursday.

Ms Patricia Lally, solicitor for Wilson Bird, General Manager of the Breaffy House Resort, told Judge Vincent Deane that she was not proceeding with the application and the case was struck out.

The issue had first come before Judge Fiona Lydon at the annual licensing court in September but was adjourned until Thursday after an objection from a local resident.

Mr Stephen Kerr had made the objection on the grounds that the Breaffy Woods Hotel was operating as an accommodation centre for Ukrainian refugees and not as a hotel.

The hotel has been accommodating refugees since hundreds of people arrived in Mayo following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Representing himself in court, Mr Kerr claimed at the time that the hotel’s liquor license was not suitable to the needs of the people living in the local community.

“I am basically objecting on the grounds that the applicant’s character and the premises, unfitness and unsuitability for the persons residing in the neighbourhood,” Mr Kerr told the court.

Mr Kerr did not object to the renewal of the dance license or liquor license of the nearby Breaffy House Hotel, which was also dealt with by Ms Lally at September's annual licensing court.

There was no state objection to the licenses at the Breaffy House Resort.