Public Premises Licence

You must apply to the District Court for a public premises licence if you want to operate a public house, hotel, restaurant or dance hall, or operate gaming or lottery activities and notify your local authority about your application. Local authorities may inspect the premises to advise the Court about licence applications.

This section outlines the involvement of Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service in the licensing process and is intended as a guide to both potential and existing licencees of public premises.

The fire service is a notice party to many types of licence applications and throughout the year the fire service receives notification of applications to the courts for licences for various types of public premises. This gives the fire authority the opportunity to inspect premises and to give evidence in court prior to the granting of a licence. The types of notifications the fire authority receives are:

  • Public dance hall licences
  • Transfer of publican licences
  • Certificates of registration
  • Lottery licences
  • Club licences
  • Occasional licences

Licensing procedure

On notification of a licence application and the appropriate fee (currently €250), the fire authority will acknowledge the application and request the following information from the applicant and notify the applicant of the need to arrange an inspection of the premises with the assigned fire officer:

  1. Certificate of Servicing/Testing for the Fire Detection and Alarm System in the format prescribed in Annex D1 of IS 3218: 2013.
  2. Certificate for Annual Inspection & Testing for the Emergency Lighting System in the format prescribed in Annex C6 of IS 3217: 2013.
  3. Annual Maintenance Certificate for the Fire Extinguishers to IS 291: 2015.
  4. Test Certification for any Heat Producing Appliances.
  5. Test Certification for the Electrical Installation.