State agencies at loggerheads over review of licensing laws

THE Equality Authority is boycotting a Government-ordered review of the legal limits on a publican's right to refuse to serve alcohol.

The row is central to controversies over discrimination claims arising from refusals to serve Travellers.

It has left two State agencies at loggerheads and further complicates an already confused issue for publicans across the country.

Former Justice Minister John O’Donoghue asked the Commission on Liquor Licensing to examine the issue last March amid protests from civil liberties groups and the Equality Authority. But the commission chairman, Gordon Holmes, said he had received no co-operation from the Equality Authority since then.

“We got boycotted by the Equality Authority. Bearing in mind that the Government directed us to deal with this issue, and bearing in mind that the Equality Authority are totally Government-funded, I find it surprising that they will not co-operate with a Government decision,” Mr Holmes said.

But the chief executive of the Equality Authority, Niall Crowley, was unrepentant about his actions.

“We sought a meeting with the chairman of the Commission when this review was announced but I regret to say he felt unable to meet with us,” Mr Crowley said.

Mr Crowley said the composition of the Commission on Liquor Licensing made it an inappropriate body for such a review as it was predominantly made up of representatives of publicans, hoteliers and others in the drinks trade. He insisted that it was his job to defend the equality legislation and ensure it was upheld.

The Justice Minister ordered the review after a complaint against a Dublin publican under the Equal Status Act 2000 was upheld last March. The equality investigators found that the complainant had been discriminated against on family status grounds as service was denied because he had a young child with him.

Last week, the Commission on Liquor Licensing recommended a change in the licensing laws to copper-fasten a publican’s right to either ban children or fix strict conditions to their admission to a bar.

A spokesman for Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, last night sought to play down the row saying he hoped all public and private bodies would co-operate with studies into the problems surrounding the use and abuse of alcohol. It is understood the Minister is to meet officials at the Equality Authority soon to discuss the matter.