Vintners' boss: Tougher prison terms or ‘bar staff will die’
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, said the VFI estimates that physical attacks on its members have increased by as much as 40% to 50% in recent years, resulting in serious injuries such as cracked ribs and broken noses.
Mr Cribben denied that alcohol was the cause of the increased aggression, instead suggesting that attacks against pub workers was often triggered by a refusal to serve someone because they were intoxicated, and that in some cases people were sober when they carried out an assault.
“This has not got to the stage where it is an epidemic, but we are saying now is the time to make sure it doesn’t become one,” he said.
Writing in today’s Irish Examiner, Mr Cribben said there had been “a series of high-profile violent attacks on publicans up and down the country” and that it appeared to be growing.
“In my role as chief executive of the VFI, I receive calls on a weekly basis about violent assaults right across the country from Donegal to Wexford,” he said.
“Publicans and their staff are being left with serious injuries, both physical and mental, and premises are being significantly damaged on what is now a regular basis.”
“I fear that a bar owner will be killed in his own premises if this urgent issue isn’t addressed,” he said. “It is very simple; without stronger sentencing imposed, these acts of violence are going to continue.”
However, Mr Cribben said he was not categorising those responsible for the attacks on bar workers, only that it was “a small cohort of people who think they are immune to the rigors of the law”.
“If we get to a situation where this continues, our suggestion would be some form of mandatory sentencing is required.”
He said “judicial discretion” was being used, sometimes resulting in lighter sentences where arguably tougher sentencing was warranted.
He cited one case from last week in which a female publican was verbally intimidated to such an extent that she was too afraid to open the pub at the weekend.
Earlier this month, the manager of a Killarney hotel criticised the suspended sentences handed down to three members of a family convicted of violent disorder and assault following an incident at the premises.
The bar manager received five stitches after being struck by a bottle; two gardaí were assaulted, and three other civilians in the bar were also struck. Staff who tried to intervene and ferry other guests to safety were assaulted while a female garda was kicked and pinned to the ground at the hotel entrance.
Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Defence, Deputy David Stanton, said while courts operate independently, there is a need for a national debate on the rise in violence in general.
“I agree totally that we need to protect the citizen. We need to have a debate to see why this [an increase in violence] is going on. There’s been an increase in domestic violence and sexual violence as well. Even on our sports fields we see too much violence,” Mr Stanton said
