wait.. what?

Last Friday, Christy Walsh was fined 700 Euros for having patrons in his bar too late at night. The police came first at 1:45, 45 minutes after closing time, to ensure that everyone was out of the bar. At this time there were 51 ‘nuns’ in the bar, all waiting for rides home. When the police checked by again around 4:00, there were still twenty ‘nuns’ in the bar. At the time of the second check in by the police, Walsh was driving people home because they were too intoxicated to drive, and the small Irish town only had about ten taxis at the time. There were so many ‘nuns’ because of a charity event being hosted by Walsh to raise suicide and self-injury awareness. They chose to dress as nuns to break the world record of most people dressed as nuns in one area. During this event, the town’s population nearly doubled, bringing in 3,000 people for the event. Walsh made sure to discuss the topic of participants dressed as nuns to the local priest, who said it was humorous and beneficial for the cause. Walsh is taking the 700 Euro fine gladly.

Dude. If the pub owner was really driving people home I don’t think they should have been given such a large fine. I mean, he was keeping people from driving home hammered, and it was a charity event. Now maybe he should get a slap on the wrist, but 700 Euros? Really? Come on! It was for charity and they didn’t want to drive home drunk. The owner couldn’t kick them all out when they were so drunk, but he couldn’t let them drive home. What was he supposed to do? Invite all 51 of them to crash at his place while they sobered up?

And for those who don’t know, 700 euros equals about $950, and in the states we have a similar law, that alcohol cannot be sold after two AM. It is also illegal to sell alcohol to someone already clearly intoxicated.

I wonder sometimes if we took away drinking laws if years down the road drinking wouldn’t be such a big deal. Right now, if you drink underage you are cool.. But if we take out the taboo, maybe teenagers wouldn’t drink, or maybe it would become less of a problem. Would abolishing drinking laws or lowering the ages help discourage underage drinking indirectly?