A Dublin pub was closed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland after the body concluded that it posed a serious threat to public health.
FSAI inspectors found black dirt, filth, grease and mould, encrusted and decomposing old food, and used cigarette butts during a visit last month to Dublin's popular Hole In The Wall pub, beside the Phoenix Park.
There was no soap and no towel at a staff hand basin, which had no water, either hot or cold.
The closure notice was issued on 8 December and lifted the following day.
However, two of the five other closure notices issued last month remain in effect.
One is for Casey's pub in Raheenagh, Limerick, while the other targets RBK Poultry Limited based in Dublin's Chapelizod.
In Casey's pub, inspectors found "an open bucket of ash from a fireplace beside trays of eggs and tinned beans", and "exposed plaster board" posing the danger of the "shedding of particles into food".
At RBK Poultry, they discovered "[meat] considered unfit for human consumption due to putrefaction, foreign body contamination and poor storage conditions".
In total, 77 enforcement orders, including 65 closure orders, were served on food businesses for breaches of food safety legislation in 2022, an increase of almost a third on the year before.
Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive of the FSAI, expressed disappointment "that month after month, food inspectors find similar, basic and fundamental breaches of food law".
