A Sligo publican was counting the cost of repairing his premises yesterday after it was allegedly vandalised by a group of Travellers who were refused drink.
The trouble broke out in McGowan's pub in the small village of Easkey, about seven miles outside Ballina, on Tuesday night. Bottles and glasses were smashed, a pool table was damaged, and the front window of the pub was broken with a pool cue.
"I don't know how I'll ever go behind a bar again to serve," the publican's daughter and manager of the pub, Ms Rose Ann McGowan, said yesterday.
A spokesman for Ballina Garda said a number of gardaí were sent to the scene to restore order. The incident would be fully investigated, he said.
No arrests have yet been made.
Ms McGowan was alone behind the bar when more than 20 Travellers arrived at about 8.30 p.m.
She served them one drink each but refused to take orders for a second round.
"One of the group appeared to be acting as a spokesperson. He had ordered the drink and he demanded a reason for refusal. I explained that I thought they had had enough to drink.
"They had been at a wedding all day. I had not realised that when I served them initially. I said I thought they were drunk and that they were driving and for that reason I would not serve them any more alcohol."
Ms McGowan claims she was then verbally abused by the spokesperson.
"He threatened me. I was petrified. He said he'd jump the bar and I won't use the language he was using to me, but I was seriously frightened.
"A friend of my daughter's was in the bar when the group entered. I asked her to give me a hand to fill the first round . . . she stood behind the bar and I ran upstairs, after being threatened, and called the gardaí.
"I believe the gardaí had arrived outside the premises when the group decided to leave. On their way out one of the Travellers took a bottle off the counter and smashed every glass and bottle, mostly empties, that were on the counter. Glass was splintering all over the place. I was literally frozen to the spot.
"Then it appears that one of the group took a pool cue and put it through the front window on the way out. It was a doubleglazed window."