A complaint by a non-national that he was refused admission to a Dublin pub on the grounds of race has been upheld by an equality officer.
The complaint was made to the director of equality investigations under the Equal Status Act, 2000. The equality officer ordered that the owners of the pub, the Turk's Head on Parliament Street, pay Mr Sajjad Sajjadi €1,500 for the "distress, humiliation and loss of amenity suffered". Mr Sajjadi, from Azerbaijan, came to live in Ireland eight years ago. An Irish citizen, he is studying at Bolton Street College of Technology.
He claimed that in September 2001 he was refused admission to the pub by a doorman, despite producing a student ID card showing that he was 33. He insisted that he had been refused admission because of his race.
The pub's management rejected the claim that it operated a discriminatory policy against anyone. They claimed that it had a policy of only accepting Garda age cards or passports as proof of identification and that Mr Sajjadi was refused admission because he could produce neither.
Mr Sajjadi told the hearing that he had previously been in the pub on four or five occasions and had no difficulty gaining admission.
On the evening he was refused admission, he had arranged to meet friends in the pub. At the door, he was asked for identification, and he produced his student card, containing his photograph and date of birth, but this was not acceptable to the doorman.
He then produced a student travel card and several bank cards, but these were also unacceptable, with the doorman insisting that a passport was necessary. Mr Sajjadi said that he did not have his passport with him.
He had remained at the door for a half-hour until he was spotted by a friend inside. At this friend's request, the manager, Mr Rory Keogh, came to the door and looked at Mr Sajjadi's student card, adding to the doorman: "This one's OK." Mr Sajjadi claimed he was upset by Mr Keogh's remarks and left within a few minutes.
Mr Keogh said that he recalled Mr John Healy, a witness for Mr Sajjadi, approaching him and accusing the pub of being racist for not allowing his friend in. The doorman had told him that Mr Sajjadi had not been able to produce acceptable ID and that he had become irate and abusive when refused admission.
He had asked to see Mr Sajjadi's ID and, having satisfied himself that it was genuine, he had indicated to the doorman that Mr Sajjadi was to be admitted.
