DEC - S2007 - 053
Patrick O'Reilly & Ann-Marie Donoghue
(Represented by Waterford Traveller Community Development Project)
V
Pat McDonald T/A The Wee Piper
Patrick O'Reilly and Ann-Marie Donoghue each referred a claim to the Director of Equality Investigations under the Equal Status Act 2000. In accordance with her powers under section 75 of the Employment Equality Act, the Director then delegated the case to me, Bernadette Treanor, an Equality Officer, for investigation, hearing and decision and for the exercise of other relevant functions of the Director under Part III of the Equal Status Act.
Summary of the Complainants' case
The complainants entered the Wee Piper on St. Patrick's Day 2003 between 8pm and 9pm. They had never been in the pub before and went there to meet members of their extended family who were already there. Before Mr. Reilly could order the barmaid said "Out, out, out" to him while waving her arms gesturing that they should leave. When he asked "For what?" she replied that she was not serving them because they had been in the previous Sunday and threatened her. The complainants stated that they had not been in that Sunday as they had been in England visiting a sick relative. The barmaid called the Gardai on Mr. O'Reilly's request. They spoke to Mr. O'Reilly when they arrived between five and ten minutes later. They said it was the third time they had been there that day and knowing Mr. O'Reilly they gave him their names and suggested that he contact a solicitor. The complainants suggested at the hearing that perhaps the barmaid had had difficulties with other Travellers that day, given that the Gardai had been called out twice earlier in the day, although they felt this should not have been held against them.
Summary of the Respondent's Case
Mr. McDonald was the licensee of the Wee Piper at the time of the alleged incident. The bar manager, Ms. McDonald explained that the pub had changed hands since that time. She was able to identify the barmaid from the description given by the complainants but she herself was not there at the time of the incident. She described the pub's general policies with regard to refusals and any other difficulties arising including the keeping of a log. The log was left with the pub when it changed hands. She indicated that she doubted that the barmaid would have acted as alleged simply because she recognised the complainants as Travellers and suggested that it might have been a case of mistaken identity. She also doubted that the barmaid would have called the Gardai if she had refused the complainants only because they were Travellers. She stated that she had never seen the complainants before the hearing.
Conclusions of the Equality Officer
I am satisfied that the complainants are members of the Traveller community and that they were refused service on 17th March 2003. It is clear from their evidence that the barmaid thought she recognised them immediately on entry and asked them to leave. What is in dispute is whether she recognised them as people who had been in the previous week and caused difficulties or whether she recognised them as Travellers and asked them to leave on that basis. I am satisfied that the complainants had not caused difficulties in the pub the previous week since they were unknown to the manager.
The complainants asserted that their membership of the Traveller community would be obvious to anyone they met, particularly with regard to their accent. I do not agree that this would be immediately obvious and in any event the barmaid told them to get out before the complainants said anything. Her response to their entering the pub was immediate and apparently emphatic. No evidence was presented that would require me to consider that the reason she gave for the refusal was not her actual reason. In other words, the complainants have failed to present evidence from which it could be established that the barmaid misrepresented the situation to them and actually refused them because they are Travellers. While I accept that the complainants had not in fact been there the previous Sunday I see no reason to presume that the barmaid did not believe that they had. While her response may have been unfair it does not, in my view, constitute discrimination. I find that the complainants have failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination on the Traveller ground.
Decision DEC-S2007-053
I find that the respondent did not discriminate against the complainants in terms of the Equal Status Act when they were refused service on 17th March 2003.
Bernadette Treanor
Equality Officer
18th May 2007