A teetotaller has failed to convince the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations (OEDI) that he was refused drink in a Co Longford pub because the landlady mistook him for a Traveller.
Mr Charles Cullen, a Co Leitrim farmer, claimed he was discriminated against by Ms Brigid O'Reilly, proprietor of the Castle Inn, Newtownforbes, contrary to the Equal Status Act, 2000. He said he was dressed in farm working clothes and was heavily tanned on the day.
Ms O'Reilly denied he was discriminated against and said the reason service was refused was because she considered he was drunk.
Mr Cullen told the equality officer that on June 3rd, 2001, he travelled from Leitrim to herd livestock on lands he owned at Mullingar. He was accompanied by his wife. On their return they stopped at the Castle Inn, where he ordered a whiskey for his wife and a 7-Up for himself. Ms O'Reilly refused to serve him.
She did not recognise him, she said. She knew he was not a local and concluded he must be driving a car. She admitted, however, she had not seen the car and had no way of knowing if Mr Cullen was driving.
Mr Cullen said he had been a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association since 1956.
He assumed Ms O'Reilly had mistaken him for someone she had barred from the pub, so he left the premises and returned with a driving licence as proof of his identity. She would not look at the driving licence and again refused to serve him.
By this time Ms Cullen had returned from the toilets and both of them were embarrassed as the bar was "quite full" and everyone was looking at him.
He then felt perhaps the proprietor had mistaken him for a Traveller because he was still wearing the work clothes he had used while herding livestock. He "felt conspicuous" as he was not dressed as well as the other bar patrons.
Ms O'Reilly said Mr Cullen was angry when she refused to serve him. She "felt abused" at the way he was behaving. Her husband, who witnessed the incident, said Mr Cullen was "shouting aggressively" at his wife in "a verbally intimidating manner", saying "get the guards, get the guards".
The ODEI equality officer concluded Mr Cullen had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination. However, she found Ms O'Reilly's evidence "to say the least inconsistent, and in many ways inaccurate and therefore lacking a great deal in credibility".
Nonetheless, her refusal of service did not infringe any of the discriminatory grounds under the Equal Status Act, even though it clearly caused distress to Mr Cullen.