A groundbreaking age discrimination finding against Aosdána, the body established to honour those who have excelled in the arts, has been overturned on appeal to the Labour Court.
Seán Clifford was awarded €2,500 compensation by equality officer Vivian Jackson last July after he took a complaint to the Equality Tribunal, which was supported by the Equality Authority.
Mr Clifford's initial victory was a landmark because it established Aosdána was covered under equality law and broke new ground on the negative impact of ageism on younger people.
When he was 26 in 2001, Mr Clifford inquired about joining Aosdána and was told that membership was restricted to people who were over 30.
Established by the Arts Council in 1983, Aosdána has about 200 members who are eligible to apply for a "cnuas" or grant to assist them in pursuing their art and a "pension".
Although Aosdána removed the lower age limit in 2003 before the case was heard by the Equality Tribunal, it insisted that the Employment Equality Act did not apply to it and it appealed the case on that issue.
Section 13 of the Act prohibits discrimination by professional or trade organisations and Aosdána successfully argued that definition didn't cover it.
Aosdána told the court it would be unworkable for it to be covered by equality law as it was by its very nature subjective.
It is "like the Nobel Prize, it is elitist, it includes some, excludes others", Aosdána told the court.
It maintained it was merely a structure to dispense the five-year cnuas, provide the honorary award of saoi - of which there are not more than five at any time - and contribute a pension for those who require it.
Paul Johnson, artistic services manager of the Arts Council and Aosdána registrar, said it had no employees and membership was only available to those who were nominated to join. There is an average of four applicants a year.
Mr Johnson said there was no evidence that membership enhanced anyone's career.
It was an "affiliation of artists", he said.
Labour Court deputy chairman Caroline Jenkinson agreed and overturned the equality officer's decision.