"One of our own" fined a mere €500 for running an unlicensed bar for 5 years... less than a ton a year for not buying a licence that's readily available.
https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/wife-of-former-td-convicted-of-managing-unlicensed-pub-claims-she-was-just-cleaning-it/a202790325.htmlFINED | Wife of former TD convicted of managing unlicensed pub claims she was just cleaning itPatricia Ellis fined €500 after gardaí called in to premisesMark Tighe
Yesterday at 08:17
The wife of a former Fianna Fáil TD has been convicted of managing an unlicensed pub. However, she claims she was merely cleaning it on behalf of her daughter.
Patricia Ellis, wife of the former TD and senator John Ellis and the mother of Orla Ellis — who was struck off the roll of solicitors for misconduct — was fined €500 at a hearing in Carrick-on-Shannon District Court in Leitrim last month.
The Leitrim Observer reported on how it emerged in court that Quinn’s pub in Fenagh had been operating without a valid licence for six years before gardaí inspected the premises on St Patrick’s Day 2023.
Sergeant Damien Guckian gave evidence that he called to the pub after midnight on a routine inspection and found six patrons consuming alcohol, a lit cash register and two people behind the bar.
Patricia Ellis initially identified herself as being in charge, but said she was unsure if a licence was in place. She later said she was cleaning the pub and closing it up for the night.
“I never pulled a pint or served a drink in my life to anybody,” she said.
Patricia Ellis claimed her son-in-law Cormac Feehan, husband of Orla, was said to be responsible for licensing matters, but he was in hospital at the time.
Judge Sandra Murphy acknowledged Patricia Ellis’s difficult position, saying: “I feel sorry for Mrs Ellis, but the law is clear.” She convicted her and fined her €500.
The garda said enquiries with Revenue showed the pub had not been licensed since 2018. It is understood Quinn’s pub was leased to Orla Ellis and her husband Cormac Feehan and is now under new management.
Orla Ellis was struck off from practising as a solicitor in 2023 after a Law Society investigation found a deficit of €566,000 in her client accounts. It told the High Court she had behaved “dishonestly” and engaged in “fraud”. A number of bequests from her clients to charities were found not to have been paid.
The Law Society had paid €666,000 to compensate Orla Ellis’s former clients when she was struck off in December 2023.
Orla Ellis told a Law Society investigating accountant that she and her husband had acquired a pub before the pandemic hit in 2020.
“She admitted that her husband had bought a pub just before the pandemic and that they had spent a lot of money on it, so perhaps they would be under a lot of pressure given the lockdown,” an accountant for the Law Society wrote in an affidavit.
However, Orla Ellis told him “they were doing very well”.
After it emerged Ms Ellis was suspended by the Law Society she was hired as a clerical officer by the Department of Social Protection. This position was later terminated.
Then social protection minister Heather Humphreys said recruitment was a matter for the department and the Public Appointments Service.
Revenue has obtained five judgments totalling €348,203 against Orla Ellis since 2023.
It has also registered five judgment mortgages on her house in Fenagh.
Cormac Feehan was convicted of drink-driving in 2021 after a court heard gardaí found him slumped over the steering wheel of his car while “highly intoxicated”.
According to a separate report in the Leitrim Observer, Feehan, who gave his profession as a car salesman, said he wasn’t driving the vehicle that night. He said the car was stopped and the engine was running to keep the heat on as it was cold.
His blood alcohol reading was 104mcg alcohol per 100ml of breath — over five times the legal limit.
Judge Kevin Kilrane said the facts of the case were that the defendant appeared to have driven to that point and couldn’t drive any further.
Feehan was convicted and fined €500 and was disqualified from driving for three years.
Patricia Ellis is a co-director with her husband John of a construction company, Birchmoy Developments. Revenue registered a judgment of €57,769 against this company in 2018.
John Ellis was a TD and then a senator for Fianna Fáil up to 2011. Orla Ellis campaigned for her brother Shane who was a party candidate in the 2020 general election.
John Ellis was a controversial figure in the north-west due to the collapse of a cattle firm he owned with his brothers. Stanlow Trading ceased operations in the late 1980s leaving more than 80 farmers out of pocket for hundreds of thousands of pounds in payments.
It later emerged Mr Ellis received a £240,000 write-down on his debts from National Irish Bank, which he claimed was due to lobbying from Albert Reynolds.
Mr Ellis had to resign as chairman of the Oireachtas agriculture committee in 1999 after news of his write-down emerged.
