The owner of a city centre adult store has been fined a total of €1,500 for having pornographic DVDs available for sale to the public which did not have a supply certificate or proper labelling.
Michael Bridgeman (47 ) with an address at Glenview, Ballyneety, Limerick, was summoned to appear at Galway District Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to having video recordings at Underworld, 20 Upper Dominick Street, which did not comply with sections 5, 6, and 12 of the Video Recording Act 1989.
Inspector Mick Coppinger told the court that on May 28, 2008, there was a search of the premises and a quantity of DVDs, five in total, was found not to have been certified under the Video Recording Act. He said that the DVDs were of a “pornographic nature” and did not have a certificate or proper labelling. He added that these videos must have labelling to show that they comply with regulations.
Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said that the incident arose from a nationwide search on that same day on a number of similar premises. Bridgeman, who is the director of the company, was fully co-operative with gardai when they called to his premises. Mr MacLynn said that Bridgeman had been complying with European laws but not with domestic law. He said that the DVDs in question were available for sale but had not been rented out. The court then heard that Bridgeman is closing down the business in four weeks time.
In response to questions regarding any other videos supplied, Inspector Coppinger told Judge Mary Fahy that other videos were “acceptable”. He added that the defendant had no previous convictions.
Mr MacLynn said that Bridgeman had ensured that there were warning signs on display, that CCTV had been installed to avoid any breaches such as sale to people under age.
“It is incumbent on him as a business person to check that he is in compliance with Irish law, not any other country,”said Judge Fahy, before noting that censorship laws in Ireland had changed for the better as movies are not as censored as in times gone by.
Bridgeman was then convicted and fined €1,500 with three months to pay.
