Dublin
Happy hour was abolished in Ireland this week as harsh new booze laws went into effect. Pub owners are no longer allowed to offer early-evening discounts, which are seen as encouraging binge drinking. In an even more radical change, bars and restaurants may not sell alcohol to any person who seems intoxicated. Pub owners who flout the laws face fines of $1,500 per incident; a person found to be drunk in public must pay $300. The new limits are meant to combat an alarming rise in public drunkenness that has left Dublins streets splattered in vomit.
