Bill Chawke was used to breaking up drunken fights inside his family’s national chain of pubs, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court was told.But on November 9th, 2023, Chawke (31) and his sister Alison (41) were the ones drunk and disorderly in a pub.The pair launched a vicious attack on two men, punching and kicking them and gouging their eyes at the four-star Dunraven Arms Hotel in Adare, Co Limerick.Mother-of-three Alison Chawke also locked her teeth on to the side of one of the victim’s faces, biting his left cheek. She kicked the man in the head as her brother wrestled him to the ground.They will both serve at least one year in jail for the assaults following sentencing earlier today at Limerick Circuit Court. Bill Chawke of Merrion Street Upper, Dublin 2, was sentenced to two years and six months, with the final 12 months suspended.His sister, of The Beeches, Holywell, Goatstown, Dublin 14, was sentenced to two years and two months, with the final 14 months suspended.The Chawke siblings are from a well-known family, from Dublin via Limerick, that,has built an empire of pubs under the family’s patriarch, Charlie Chawke, a self-made businessman.Charlie Chawke himself has been a victim of violence. During an armed robbery of one of his Dublin pubs, The Goat in Goatstown, south Dublin, in 2003, he suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg as he tried to seize a pump-action sawn-off shotgun from one of the raiders. His leg was later amputated above the knee.Charlie continued to manage his public houses and Bill became more involved in the family business as he grew up.On November 9th, 2023, Bill and Alison Chawke were visiting Charlie’s childhood village of Adare, where the Chawke Group began in the 1950s and where the family operate Aunty Lena’s pub and Bill Chawke’s Bar.The court heard the two siblings consumed at least 15 alcoholic drinks between them, including vodkas, gins and Guinness.Bill and Alison were intoxicated by the time they sought more drinks at the residents bar at the Dunraven Arms Hotel, after arriving just after midnight.The hotel has hosted British royalty, presidents, sport stars and some of Hollywood’s elite.The bar’s CCTV system was recording and picked up Alison Chawke approaching two men, John McHugh and Gerard Cox, both in their 50s, who were sitting at the bar minding their own business.The footage shows Alison Chawke initially laughing and chatting amicably with the two men.Bill Chawke started demanding bar food despite staff repeatedly telling him it was no longer available. He didn’t listen and persisted in phoning the bar’s night manger’s phone seeking food.The night manager later described Bill Chawke’s behaviour as “arrogant” and “stubborn”.CCTV footage shows, when Cox politely asks Bill Chawke to stop annoying the bar staff, Bill Chawke confronts Cox and words are exchanged.Bill Chawke returns to his bar seat alongside his sister.Moments later, the bar’s CCTV camera follows Bill Chawke approaching Cox and McHugh again and, without provocation, lunging at Cox with his fists.Cox and McHugh try to shield themselves from Chawke’s blows, while others, including Alison Chawke, try to pull her brother away.The CCTV camera continues recording, showing Bill Chawke continuing to brawl and Alison Chawke running behind the bar counter and picking up an empty pint glass.She is then seen throwing the pint glass at Cox and McHugh, as Bill Chawke continues punching them.Alison Chawke returns to the melee, kicking and throwing punches at the two men, as her brother continues punching them.Footage from another CCTV camera, located in the lobby of the hotel, shows the brawl spreading from the residents bar into the front foyer of the hotel.Alison and Bill Chawke continue their attack and stick their fingers into the eyes of Cox and McHugh, the CCTV footage shows.As hotel staff wait for gardaí to arrive, McHugh falls to the ground with Bill Chawke on top of him and Alison Chawke bending down beside him and biting the left cheek of his face.Gardaí arrive and take Bill Chawke’s name and address. He agrees to leave, but Alison Chawke refuses to give gardaí her name. She is arrested. She was held in a Garda station cell overnight.She later told gardaí she had refused to give her name because she was concerned her father would find out what had happened.Gardaí eventually released her without charge, leaving her to sleep off her drunkenness in her car before she headed back to Dublin.They eventually arrested the brother and sister, charging them with assault causing harm. As their trial date approached, Bill and Alison Chawke, represented by Belfast solicitor, Michael Finucane, pleaded guilty.When asked by gardaí why they had attacked the two men, their only defence was that they had felt the men had been staring and smirking at them in the bar of the Dunraven.The ironic nature of his arrest was not lost on Bill Chawke; he told gardaí he was more used to breaking up fights in his family’s pubs. He agreed the attack on the night could have been avoided if he had not approached the victims.Alison Chawke told gardaí she had taken photos of Cox and McHugh at the bar, despite moments earlier going over to chat to them.None of the two parties knew each other, but they had briefly met in another bar in the village earlier on the night without any issue.Alison Chawke claimed she had thrown the pint glass to try to stop the fight, and that she had kicked and thrown punches to protect her brother.When gardaí later showed her the bar’s CCTV footage of the assault, she was shocked by what she saw. She told gardaí: “Oh my God.”She later admitted that nothing could have justified her biting McHugh and kicking him in the head. She also apologised to gardaí for making “nasty” comments to them on the night, the court heard.Bill and Alison Chawke’s barristers said neither of them had any prior criminal convictions, but their behaviour was an “embarrassment” on the good Chawke family name.