OPINION: Don't block the road to fair and even treatment

LAST week the Vintners' Federation of Ireland banned Travellers from all pubs in Westport. This week they attempted to ban Travellers from all pubs outside Dublin.

As a Traveller, I can see this for the pure discrimination that it is.

If publicans said they were going to ban all black people or all Jews from pubs because of negative experiences with some members of these groups there would be an outcry - and rightly so.

People would recognise such an action as out and out racism and discrimination.

Ty the same logic, a Traveller should not be refused service, simply because they are a Traveller - but, racism and discrimination against Travellers is so ingrained in the Irish psyche that to some people the proposed ban by the Vintners will sound reasonable.

In their interviews on radio and television, the Vintners have been using very inflammatory language in terms of Travellers. They have talked, for example, about "marauding mobs" of Travellers.

Using this language and making wild, unfounded accusations about Travellers is very irresponsible behaviour.

Travellers already suffer as a result of negative stereotypes in the newspapers and on the news. Indeed, if you were to believe all you read in the papers then all Travellers would be alcoholic, violent, criminals.

A recent survey showed that 70 per cent of settled people get all their information about Travellers from the media - but many of the images of Travellers in the media are myths.

For example, there is no "King of the Travellers". This is a myth created by a media which would like you to think that Travellers slug it out to become King.

To be portrayed as more brutish or sub-human in some way is a common phenomena experienced by minorities facing racism.

Some prejudiced people would have a similar view of Australian Aboriginals, for example, and not so long ago, there were similar views of settled Irish people in Britain.

Other views of Travellers come from seeing Travellers living on the side of the road. As a result of this many settled people view Travellers as dirty.

Anyone would have difficulty keeping an area clean when there are no basic services - no water, no electricity, no toilets.

Of course what people don't see are the well run halting sites. What people don't see is where Travellers living on the side of the road keep their areas clean despite very difficult circumstances.

Of course - there are some Travellers who do dump illegally and who are dirty. And if people dump illegally they should be prosecuted for that. But that does not mean that all Travellers dump stuff or are inherently dirty.

This view of Travellers as dirty is another common stereotype of minorities who experience racism. Again think of the term "dirty Irish" used in relation to the Irish living in Britain.

THERE are 30,000 Irish Travellers living in Ireland. Travellers live in a range of accommodation including housing, group housing, halting sites and on the side of the road.

They work in a variety of jobs, although most have to hide their Traveller identity to get a job or, indeed, keep it.

Some Travellers are self-employed, some work in the building trade, some work in the service industry, some study at 3rd level institutions while others are married and looking after their families.

Travellers are different from settled people because Travellers have a different ancestry, a different history, different traditions and customs, a different language and a different way of looking at the world.

Publicans say they are afraid of Travellers.

I don't discount that some publicans have genuine fears. But, often these fears are based on the type of prejudices promoted in the media.

Then when a group of Travellers enter their premises a publican may believe the worst and assume there will be trouble.

In other words they project their prejudices onto the people who have just walked into their pub. This leads to discrimination. And discrimination is wrong.

That's why the Equal Status Act is so important. For the first time in the history of the State it gives people who have been discriminated against a chance of legal redress.

The Equal Status Act is not just there for Travellers. It's there for you if you're discriminated against because of ethnic group, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, age or family status.

The Vintners are currently using people's prejudices about Travellers to try and scare people into thinking that the Equal Status Act is wrong.

They have already paid for ads in the regional and national Press stating that the Equal Status Act is wrong and are currently paying a public relations company to aid them in their media campaign against the Equal Status Act.

Just to set the record straight: The Equal Status Act does NOT mean that a Traveller who behaves badly in a pub must be served.

In fact the Equal Status Act specifically says that publicans can refuse to serve anyone who is drunk or behaves badly.

The Equal Status Act is not an excuse for bad behaviour.

Yes, there are Travellers who behave badly in pubs - in the same way that there are settled people who behave badly in pubs.

And if people behave badly and commit a crime they should be prosecuted.

We hope that Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, does not agree to weaken the Equal Status Act.

The Vintners are a powerful lobby group. It would be a shame to see equality for everyone put back just because the people with power are prejudiced against Travellers.

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