The anonymous guest above was me. I made my comment about Jim Carroll's post because I think he's got his dates wrong. Twenty odd years ago is 1992.

I've been playing fiddle at sessions since 1978 and I've never once heard of or witnessed anybody being asked to leave a pub because they were carrying an instrument case. However, I am aware that this did happen in the early 1970s. I studied and played sessions in Dublin and Galway, lived in Clare for a while and am now in Westmeath. I have never lived in Leitrim.