It was undesirable for a charity to refuse eligibility to a person on the basis of creed, a High Court judge declared yesterday. A Co
Wicklow charity which runs a home for the handicapped gives preference to members of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian
Church or the Methodist Church.
The High Court in Dublin was told that in her will, the founder of
Sunbeam House in Bray expressed the wish that it operate according to this religious preference.
The home has been developed with the addition of a school and workshop, and the charity is seeking the court's approval for the way it is administered.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said that while he could understand a creed preference being inserted in the home's original rules, he thought it
"undesirable" in the present day.
Mr Daniel Herbert SC, for Sunbeam House, presented the scheme for its administration and regulation to the court. He said the charity was established in 1874 as a home for destitute crippled children but had since moved on to develop a school and workshop for which it needed the consent of the court.
The scheme refers to "eligible persons" and states that physically or mentally handicapped persons who are members of the Church of
Ireland, the Presbyterian Church or the Methodist Church shall be preferred to people who are not members of any of these churches, he said.
The definition was to comply with a wish of the home's founder member, Mrs Lucinda Sullivan, who had said in her recently discovered will that the home should have a Church of Ireland ethos.
Mr Seamus Noonan SC, for the Attorney General, said it was not in any way suggested that there had been any deliberate wrongdoing by the governors or trustees.
The case was adjourned, pending Mr Justice Geoghegan's decision.