Occasional licences for events in Ireland

An occasional licence is the District Court's answer to an event where drink is to be sold somewhere that has no licence of its own: a marquee, a field, a community hall, a sports ground. It is granted to an existing licensee, not to the event, and it comes with conditions. This guide explains who can apply, the notice to the Garda, the fee, what the court looks at, and the conditions an order carries.

What an occasional licence is

The Licensing Acts let the District Court grant the holder of a licence for one premises a licence to sell drink at another place, which is not licensed, on a particular occasion. The licensee's own licence travels to the event for the hours and the area the order sets. The occasion has to be a real one: a festival, a race meeting, a match, a wedding, a dinner dance, an agricultural show, a concert.

The order is for the event, not the venue. A hall that hosts a dozen events a year needs a separate occasional licence for each, each applied for by a licensee. A venue that wants to sell drink routinely needs its own licence, which for a new pub or hotel licence is a Circuit Court matter and outside this guide.

Occasional licences are a small part of the District Court's licensing work, which totalled 37,672 applications in 2025 according to the Courts Service Annual Report 2025 published on 13 July 2026, most of them special exemption orders. They matter out of proportion to their number because an event with an unlicensed bar is an offence for everyone involved in selling.

Who can apply

The applicant is the licensee: in practice a publican who holds a seven-day on-licence, sometimes a hotel or a club through its secretary where the Acts allow. The licensee applies in their own name, serves the notice, pays the fee, attends or is represented, and holds the order.

A committee organising a festival, a GAA club without a club certificate, a wedding couple, a venue owner or a caterer with no licence cannot apply. They arrange for a licensed publican to apply and to run the bar, and the arrangement between them is their own business. The court looks to the licensee, and the licensee is the person responsible on the night for the age rules, the hours, the area and the conduct of the bar.

A licensee whose own licence is subject to objection, or who has a record of licensing convictions, can expect the Garda to say so.

The notice to the Garda

The application starts with a notice of intention to apply, in the Courts Service form, served on the Garda superintendent for the district where the event is to be held. The notice says who the applicant is, what licence they hold, where and when the event is, what the occasion is, and the hours and the area the bar is to cover. A declaration of service is lodged with the application.

The superintendent is heard on every application. The Garda's interest is the ordinary one: the hours, the numbers, the stewarding, access for the Garda, the age checks, the effect on the area and the roads, and the applicant's history. Where the event is large, the Garda may ask for an event management plan, door and bar staff numbers, and a stated closing hour. The Garda objections guide explains what an opposed application looks like at the hearing.

Where the event is on a local authority's land or needs the local authority's event licence under the planning code, that is a separate permission with its own timetable, and the court expects it to be in hand.

The fee and the timing

The District Court fee for an occasional licence is €150 per application, on the fee schedule of 8 September 2025. Revenue's excise duty, where it applies, is paid separately. The licensee's own charge for running the bar is a private matter.

Applications are heard on the district's licensing days. The court office fixes a lodging deadline before each list, and the application has to be served on the Garda before it is lodged, so the sequence is: fix the date of the event, ring the court office for the next licensing list and its lodging date, serve the notice on the superintendent, lodge the application with the declaration of service and the fee, attend the list. Allow weeks. An event fixed for a Saturday with the application lodged the Monday before is an event with no bar. The court date tool counts the days to the list and to the lodging deadline, and find a court gives you the office. The Courts Service's offices page lists every District Court office with its contact details.

What the court looks at

The judge hears the application on the licensing list. The things that matter:

• The licensee. That they hold the licence they say they hold, in the district or elsewhere, and that it is current and unobjected.
• The occasion. That it is a particular event rather than a device for regular trading at an unlicensed place.
• The place. That the area the bar covers is defined: a marquee, a fenced enclosure, a hall. The order describes it, and selling outside it is selling without a licence.
• The hours. The Acts fix the hours within which an occasional licence can run, and the court sets the hours for the event within them. The court office carries the current figures; they are not reproduced here because they vary with the day and the kind of event.
• The Garda's view. Consent, conditions or opposition.
• Any objection from others. The fire authority where the venue's capacity or exits are in issue, the HSE (see the glossary) where food or public health arises, residents where the event affects them.

An application in order, lodged in time and unopposed is usually granted on the list. An opposed application is heard, and the judge can grant, grant with shorter hours or a smaller area, grant on conditions, or refuse. A refusal can be appealed to the Circuit Court; the court office has the form and the time limit.

The conditions

An occasional licence carries the conditions the court sets and the ordinary law on top:

• the hours in the order, with no sale outside them;
• the area in the order, with no sale outside it;
• the age rules: no sale to a person under 18, and the identification rules apply at the event as in the pub;
• no sale to a person who is drunk, and the public order law applies on the field as on the street;
• any condition the Garda sought and the court imposed: stewards, door staff, a plan, a stated last admission.

The licensee holds the order and keeps a copy at the event; the Garda can ask to see it. A breach is an offence under the Intoxicating Liquor Acts for the licensee, and it is also the evidence the Garda brings to the licensee's next application and to the annual licensing court in September, covered in the annual licensing court guide. For certain licensing convictions, the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000 lets the court make a temporary closure order against the licensee's own premises.

Late hours at an event

An occasional licence runs to the hours the court sets within the Acts. Where the event wants to run later than the ordinary hours allow, the question is whether a special exemption order is available, which depends on the kind of licence and the occasion; the special exemption orders guide explains the rule for licensed premises, and the court office will say what is possible for an event under an occasional licence.

The Bill

The Sale of Alcohol Bill 2022 would have rewritten the occasional licence alongside the rest of the code. It did not progress, and a condensed Intoxicating Liquor Bill is being drafted with no timeline published. The occasional licence in 2026 is the one described here, and the changes page tracks the Bill.

Where this leaves you

The court date tool counts the days from today to the licensing list before your event and to the office's lodging deadline. The court office, through find a court, has the list dates, the form and the superintendent's details for service.

A publican who applies regularly can lodge it themselves with the office's help; for a large event, a first application, or one the Garda is likely to oppose, most licensees use a solicitor who does licensing work.