A survey by the Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) shows that the biggest worry publicans have in relation to running their business is the right to refuse service.
The survey, carried out among the VFI's 6,000 members, reveals the key worry facing rural publicans is the threat from members of the Travelling community to either cause damage to property, intimidate staff or use equality legislation to blackmail proprietors.
The survey shows that almost 50 per cent of respondents directly experienced problems with Travellers on their premises last year.
Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, chief executive of the VFI, told the 500-delegate annual conference in Limerick yesterday that the survey demonstrated the problems associated with refusing service.
"The fact is that members of the Travelling community are using what is clearly flawed legislation to extort money from publicans", he said.
The conference unanimously carried a motion expressing concern at the manner in which the Equal Status Act is being implemented.
It condemned as unreasonable some of the decisions of the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations and demanded that the VFI take the strongest possible action to defend its members.
The outgoing president of the VFI, Mr Richard Dunne, from Stradbally, Co Laois, called on the members to lobby the Government to address the shortcomings evident in the current legislation. "For publicans, abuse of the act has led to increasing cases of blackmail, extortion and violence. It is outrageous that increasingly our members are victims of intimidation, experiencing damage to property, personal injury and violence at the hands of the Travelling community. Publicans do not or will not refuse business unless they have a very good reason to do so," he said.
Mr Dunne revealed that the majority of cases taken under the Act were against publicans.
Last year, 42 of the 45 cases decided by the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations were taken by Travellers and 80 per cent of those claims were against pubs, hotels and clubs, he said.
The Pavee Point Travellers' Centre claimed yesterday that the VFI is conducting an orchestrated campaign "based on lies and misinformation" against the Equal Status Act.
Recent weeks have seen the VFI take out a series of quarter-page advertisements attacking the Act in at least 13 of the regional newspapers.
The VFI has made numerous public statements in relation to Travellers' uptake of the legislation in an attempt to garner support for its own stance, said Pavee Point's director, Mr Ronnie Fay.
"Vintners claim that because of this legislation, they are obstructed in running a safe and orderly house. The fact of the matter is that for many groups named in the Act, pubs were not safe places. Instead they were places where fear and humiliation were the order of the day," Mr Fay said.