Sir, - As a Dutch tourist I went with two Irish friends to a pub near Dublin. It was a nice-looking pub but what happened inside was disgusting. The bartender didn't want to serve us. When I asked for an explanation, he said: "I am only serving when I want to..." "It is not against the law not to serve..." "Ask your friends, they know why." Then he showed us the door and we had to go, just like dogs.
So this is the way they treat the travellers here in Ireland. I knew it from stories, but now I was involved in it. Isn't it a big shame to humiliate innocent people like this? I think there is something seriously wrong in the Irish society when it comes to that. Your Government should be doing everything possible (and that is a whole lot) to protect their own Irish citizens. In the tourist guides they always talk about the 40 shades of green and the friendly people (that is all true), but they never talk about the prejudice against the travellers. - Yours, etc.,
Gerben Van Hes, Leeuwarden, Netherlands.