RTÉ presenter forced to leave bar to find wheelchair toilet

AN RTÉ radio presenter was forced out onto the street in his wheelchair to search for a toilet because a swish city pub had no facilities accessible to people with disabilities.

Broadcaster Olan McGowan had to leave his college reunion party and go to another nearby pub after Searsons on Baggot Street in Dublin 4 told him none of their toilets had wheelchair access.

The southside watering hole, which is popular with rugby fans, was yesterday slapped with a court order requiring it to comply with the law by providing wheelchair-accessible toilets. It was also ordered to pay Mr McGowan and the Irish Wheelchair Association €500 each.

Mr McGowan, who produces and presents the Outside the Box programme covering disability issues, was backed by the Equality Authority in taking the case against the pub on discrimination grounds.

He went to Searsons in October last year with about 25 friends who met up for a college reunion. The group reserved an area of the pub for the occasion and had ordered food before Mr McGowan inquired about the location of the wheelchair toilet.

A barman told him there was none and suggested he try the Waterloo Bar nearby, but offered no apology or assistance. Mr McGowan was welcomed at the Waterloo.

The Equality Authority subsequently approached Searsons to see if it was making any effort to provide wheelchair-accessible toilets, but the pub ignored all requests for information up to and including the day of the hearing.

Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, welcomed the outcome of the case, but noted it reflected an emerging pattern. Previously the Russell Court Hotel, also in Dublin, was found guilty of discrimination for failing to have a wheelchair-accessible toilet in the hotel bar.

Early last year another pub, the Mezz Bar in Temple Bar, came in for criticism for erecting a mock door against a brick wall and sticking a disabled toilet sign on it in an attempt to beat the law. It has since fitted fully wheelchair-accessible toilets.

Mr Crowley said the latest case had important implications for all pubs, hotels and restaurants. “It must be an urgent alert to all service providers to gear up to their statutory obligations to customers with disabilities,” he said.

A spokesman for Searsons said last night the pub had recently come under new ownership and it was intended to provide wheelchair-accessible toilets. Bar supervisor Danny Cai said: “I’ve been working here about five years and it was never an issue before because nobody complained. People could always use the Waterloo Bar. But we are taking the situation seriously now.”