A former restaurant operator whose premises had a ‘horrendous’ level of cleanliness has been fined a total of €1,000. At Westport court, Peter Langan, with an address at Carrowholly, Westport, was also directed to pay €1,500 towards the costs of the HSE, who prosecuted him.

The Connaught Telegraph reports the prosecution arose following an inspection at the Quay Cottage restaurant, The Harbour, Westport Quay, which Langan no longer operates, on August 12, 2010.

Following the inspection, Langan agreed to the voluntary closure of the restaurant as environmental health officers felt there was a grave and immediate danger to public health, Mr. Patrick Durcan, solicitor, prosecuting, told the court.

After he complied with their requests, the closure order was lifted the following day.

On a charge that the premises was not kept clean and in good repair and condition, witness said a fly screen on a door was open and the screen was filthy. Doorframes into the kitchen and onto the rear yard were engrained with dirt.
In the main kitchen, under the cooking equipment was filthy with food debris on the floor and dirt and grease on the tiles. There was a hole in the walk area adjacent to the grease trap leading outside to the yard.

In the rear yard, the wall around an extractor unit was filthy. Fruit and vegetables were stored out there on rough timber shelving, allowing ingress of pests.

The rear dry good store and walk-in freezer was being used as a storage area for manufacturing. The floor was worn and beside the freezer was engrained with dirt and crab claws. The freezer door was filthy.

Witness said meat was in boxes on the floor. Cooked meats were stored on top of each other with no proper labelling.

There was an abundance of insects in the dry goods store, where there were open bags of flour.

The third charge related to the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). In this case, no HACCP records were available.

The chef on duty, Ms. Lawlor said, did not know how to operate a probe monitor and admitted to not carrying out temperature checks since starting work six weeks previously.

There was also no cleaning schedule.