A Dublin night-club, The PoD - acronym for Place of Dance - should be known as "Place of Drugs", Judge Desmond Windle has said.
He was speaking yesterday after hearing that undercover gardai saw open drug dealing during "gay night" in the Harcourt Street club when an assistant restaurant manager sold an ecstasy tablet to an officer.
"This PoD establishment is a den or a place of drugs rather than a place of dance," he said.
He imposed a £1,000 fine on Michael Francis Bradley (34), Lower Exchange Street, Dublin, for possession of the drug for supply in the club on June 27th 1998.
Bradley denied the charge, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity.
Dublin District Court was told by four undercover gardai that they watched Bradley as he was approached by a number of people in the club.
Garda Seamus McCormack said Bradley "made eyes" at him to come forward and told him he would get him "sorted" with an ecstasy tablet. Garda McCormack later handed over £10 and was given the tablet.
Other gardai kept Bradley under surveillance for the rest of the night until he left at about 2.40 a.m. when was detained for a drug search. No drugs were found on him and only about £1.70 in cash. He was released from Garda custody and charged later.
The court was told that night, a Friday, was "gay night" when the clientele was predominantly male.
Gardai observed: 1. money being passed under the door of a toilet cubicle and suspicious activity in other areas of the club. 2. Gay pornographic videos being played in the VIP area. 3. Male customers using both the male and female toilets and that some customers were dressed in construction worker outfits.
Bradley told the court he was in the club for a few pints with his partner of three years and another friend. He did not understand why he had been picked out. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
He denied being a drug dealer and said he had never been in trouble before. Convicting him, Judge Windle said from the evidence he appeared to have been dealing "more than once" on the night. He urged the superintendent for the area to take into account the evidence of drug dealing when the club's annual licence renewal came up later this year.