A group representing security staff and other night-time workers is facing opposition from owners of pubs and night clubs in Galway who are discouraging staff members from joining up, in some cases threatening them with the loss of their jobs.
The Society of Hospitality Workers was set up over 18 months ago to improve the image of "bouncers", establish a recognised code of practice for the industry, provide training to its members and to improve conditions of employment and pay.
Branches of the society were set up in Galway, Limerick and Cork with the aim of establishing a national network representing the industry.
Mr Pat O'Hanlon, who set up the society having worked as a security officer in Galway city for 30 years, said he has faced major difficulties in getting the organisation started in Galway.
"A lot of the owners and managers of night clubs have instructed their door security staff not to attend any meetings, join or share information with our society, with the threat of the sack if they do," he explained.
Mr O'Hanlon attributed the negative response from the pub and particularly club owners to their mistaken perception that the society was a trade union.
He highlighted the fact that physical assaults, intimidation, threats to door security staff and their families and damage to their homes were now common in Galway, but a lot of these incidents were unreported.
"In a lot of pubs and clubs, the advice to door security staff is not to call the Gardaí if at all possible and to handle the problem themselves.
"This, of course, leads to other problems such as badly trained or heavy handed staff taking the law into their own hands. Most security staff are also discouraged from calling the Gardaí when a customer has been assaulted by another customer." Mr O'Hanlon pointed out that there were no figures on the numbers of such incidents against security staff and he is proposing that incident forms be filled out to monitor the situation. He wants door staff to co-operate in barring known troublemakers from all premises.
Mr O'Hanlon fully supports the Minister for Justice's new Private Security Bill which will regulate the industry and prevent people with criminal convictions from working as security staff.
