Four fail in attempt to take pub discrimination case

Four Irish people who claimed they were refused service in a Co Kerry pub because they were not locals have failed in their attempts to take a case for discrimination on the grounds of race.

Andrew and Veronica O'Brien, Thomas Murphy and David McGee sued the owners of Florry Batts pub in Kenmare.

The four alleged they were refused service when they entered the pub in 2003 because they were not locals. They took a case to the Equality Tribunal under the terms of the Equal Status Act 2000 which forbids discrimination on nine grounds, including race.

Equality officer Bernadette Treanor held that as the four people who brought the case are Irish and the majority of people in Kerry are Irish, there could be no discrimination on the basis of race.

She held that the case could not go ahead because the four applicants could not establish a prima-facie case of discrimination. It did not mean, however, that the decision should be seen to condone the practice of refusing service to those who were not locals, she explained.

Florry Batts sought to rely on a previous judgment made last year when Edward Kelly, a Co Longford man, lost a case against a hotel in Granard which had refused to serve him.

Then, the equality officer involved, Brian O'Byrne, said the race ground is "designed to afford protection from discrimination to those of a different colour, nationality or ethnic origin who reside in Ireland and clearly Mr Kelly does not fall under any one of these categories".