Two members of the Travelling community have been awarded £2,200 each by the Director of Equality Investigations against a Dublin publican who discriminated against them.
The owner of the public house, Mr John Crowe, was also ordered to place a sign in his pub stating his commitment to equality, and bring this to the attention of all the staff.
The case was taken under the Equal Status Act 2000 which outlawed discrimination on nine grounds, including membership of the Travelling community, in the provision of services.
It arose from an incident where Mr Michael Connors and his wife Bridget were refused service in Molly Heffernan's public house in Tallaght.
A week earlier they had been in the pub when a row took place between Travellers and members of the settled community, in which the couple were not involved. They claimed they were refused service subsequently because Mr Crowe instructed the manager to stop serving all Travellers, not just those involved in the row.
Mr Crowe said he had instructed staff not to serve people involved in the row. He also said Mr and Mrs Connors were not members of the Travelling community. They live in a house in the area.
Mr and Mrs Connors gave evidence that when they had been refused service the staff member had said: "All Travellers are barred." Mr Crowe's representative at the oral hearing said the couple had been involved in the row, but was unable to bring forward any evidence of this.
The equality officer found Mr and Mrs Connors were members of the Travelling community and had been discriminated against for this reason.