The Minister of State responsible for Equality, Mr Willie O'Dea, will announce later this week whether he believes the State's equality legislation should be changed amid growing demands by publicans to be given more freedom to refuse to serve members of the Travelling community.
Mr O'Dea said yesterday he was open to considering some change if it was warranted, but he strongly defended the equality legislation in general, saying it "works well" in protecting people against discrimination.
He will today meet publicans and Travellers to discuss the row over the threatened State-wide ban on serving Travellers in pubs. This follows a series of incidents in pubs in Westport which has led to a ban by publicans in the town on serving Travellers.
While the publicans will be seeking changes in the legislation to make it easier to ban those they believe are potential troublemakers, the Travellers' representatives will insist that barring members of their community on the grounds that they might cause trouble amounts to discrimination.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties yesterday called on Mr O'Dea "to reject the vintners' campaign to undermine the Equal Status Act".
The council's acting director, Mr Liam Herrick, accused the publicans of using "gross exaggeration and blatant misinformation" to press their case. The Equal Status Act already allowed publicans to refuse to serve people in good faith in order to maintain an orderly house, he said.
Mr O'Dea told The Irish Times yesterday that he would approach today's meetings with an open mind. "If, having listened to both sides and having spoken to my officials, I consider changes are necessary, we will have to face up to that". He is to meet the Vintners' Federation of Ireland at his office this morning, and representatives of Traveller groups this afternoon.
But he said any changes would be "to deal with a specific problem", and only "if the situation is as the publicans say it is". He insisted the equality legislation was effective and would survive. "It is working well to combat discrimination", he said.
Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, has claimed that elements of the Travelling community are using the Equal Status Act "as a gravy train".
"There is a contingent of Travellers using the Act for personal financial gain through an orchestrated campaign to seek to be refused service in pubs by acting in a provocative manner."
But Mr Herrick said that while it was open to publicans to appeal decisions of the Equality Tribunal to the Circuit Court, not one of 32 judgments against publicans for refusing to serve Travellers had been appealed.
Mr O'Dea also said the legislation was being used not just by Travellers but by people of different racial origins, and people who felt discriminated against on grounds of age.