An equality officer has described a case in which a woman was refused admission to a nightclub when staff discovered she was a Traveller as "one of the worse cases of blatant discrimination I have encountered".
Mr Brian O'Byrne, equality officer, also said the woman was subjected to shameful and disgraceful treatment by the nightclub door staff.
Ms Kathleen O'Driscoll said she was discriminated against by Elroys Nightclub, Cork. She said she had frequented Elroys on a regular basis every weekend for two years. However, Ms O'Driscoll said when doorstaff suddenly learned of her Traveller identity in February 2001, they refused her admission after that.
The equality tribunal heard Ms O'Driscoll was a settled Traveller who returned to Carrigaline with her young daughter in the late 1990s. They lived happily among the settled community.
Ms O'Driscoll attended Elroys regularly every weekend for two years. She knew all the doormen well from meeting them on a weekly basis. In particular, she knew one of the doorman, referred to in case as Mr X, who lived in her neighbourhood and who had a child in the same class as her daughter.
She moved to a new house in January 2001. Mr X arranged for a painter friend of his to call and do some work the following week. The painter learned from her during conversation that she was a member of the O'Driscoll family, whom he knew to be Travellers.
A week later, on February 9th, 2001, Ms O'Driscoll and a woman friend were refused entry to Elroys by doorstaff and was told "regulars only". In early March she went to the nightclub again. There was no doorman and she walked inside.
Mr X put his hand on her shoulder and told her that on instruction of management he could not let her in. There was no explanation. Around the same time, Ms O'Driscoll said her daughter began to be bullied in school by other children referring to her Traveller identity.
At the equality hearing, Elroys rejected that it operated a discriminatory policy against Travellers. Elroys was run by Blackmore Developments Ltd for over 10 years until May 2001, when the company relinquished the lease and the premises was now under new management.
The equality officer said it was one of " the worse cases of blatant discrimination I have encountered".
"From the evidence before me, it appears clear that, on being identified as a Traveller, Ms O'Driscoll was subjected to shameful and disgraceful treatment by Elroys doorstaff," he said.
He was also satisfied Mr X played a significant role in communicating her Traveller identitity to people in Carrigaline resulting in she and her daughter suffering further discrimination from people previously regarded as friends.
He ordered the respondents to pay Ms O'Driscoll €5,000 for the humiliation, loss of amenity and particularly the distress suffered in being refused admission.