If publicans were allowed to introduce a blanket ban on serving Travellers, anarchy would result, Mr Willie O'Dea, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, said yesterday.
Such a ban was not acceptable and would not be tolerated. "Any publican who refuses to serve a member of the Travelling community simply because they are a member of the Travelling community is breaking the law and will leave themselves open to the appropriate sanction," he said.
The Minister was speaking after publicans in Westport, Co Mayo, threatened to ban all Travellers from their premises following incidents in the area.
Mr O'Dea accepted that there were problems between some publicans and Travellers but said that a blanket ban was not the answer. "Where does it all stop?" he asked.
The State could not allow a situation to develop where anybody who disliked a law could unilaterally refuse to obey it. "That is the road to anarchy and it is not acceptable."
However, Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI), commented: "The road to anarchy has already arrived."
He said it was anarchy when Travellers took over public houses and people's homes and businesses and intimidated them.
Mr O'Dea yesterday offered to meet representatives of the VFI and the Irish Traveller Movement to discuss the ongoing problems.
Traveller groups and the Equality Authority welcomed his intervention.
Mr Thomas McCann, equality officer with the Irish Traveller Movement, said that the reassurance offered by the Minister would be welcomed by Travellers, who were "living in a very fearful time in Ireland now".
If Travellers were causing trouble, then they should be treated as settled people would be treated, Mr McCann said. "We would not condone any kind of intimidatory behaviour by Travellers. If if happens, the law needs to be enforced in full."
Mr McCann rejected claims by the VFI that Travellers were deliberately trying to get themselves refused service so that they could seek compensation or blackmail publicans. Such frivolous complaints would not be entertained by the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations, he said.
Ms Ronnie Fay, director of the Pavee Point Travellers' Resource Centre, said that the proposed ban on serving Travellers and the comments made by some publicans amounted to an incitement to hatred.
"If there was a blanket ban on Jews going into pubs in Westport, or Protestants, or black people, then people would see this for what it is - absolute discrimination."
Speaking earlier on RTÉ Radio, Mr O'Sullivan had said that there were "hundreds of marauding Travellers going through the streets" in Westport and that Travellers had "run riot" in Westport and Newport.
Ms Fay said that this was "blowing the matter out of all proportion". She could not find anyone who would substantiate those claims.
Mr Patrick O'Leary, a spokesman for the Equality Authority, said that Mr O'Dea's proposal to facilitate dialogue between Traveller groups and publicans was welcome. He added: "Public houses provide an important service. This is where people meet and make contact. Discrimination in such areas creates segregation and division in our society. Dialogue will prove helpful in preventing that situation from arising."
