A woman has been awarded €2,000 by the Irish Equality Tribunal because a Galway hotel cancelled her wedding booking as she was a member of the Travelling community.
On telephoning the hotel to organise the deposit for a wedding booking, the woman's mother-in-law was informed that they did not book weddings mid-week, despite the fact that when she telephoned the hotel under a different name, their desired date was available.
Representatives for the hotel stated that this was an oversight, and they had no knowledge that Ms Ward was a member of the Travelling community.
The Tribunal equality officer, Marian Duffy stated that she was "satisfied that the reason Ms Ward's booking was not proceeded with by the hotel was connected to her membership of the Traveller community and that she was treated less favourably than a non-Traveller would have been treated in similar circumstances."
Click here to view a piece by the Irish Times on the case.
Meanwhile, UK pub chain JD Weatherspoons have been accused of racial discrimation, after a number of people were allegedly turned away from one of their north London branches because they were attending an Irish Travellers' Movement Britain (ITMB) meeting. ITMB have instructed Howe & Co solicitors to take launch proceedings against the pub.The group that were refused entry to the pub included Cheshire Constabulary's head of diversity, Inspector Watson, solicitor Martin Howe and chairman of the group, Fr Joe Brown.
The Director of the ITMB commented "it was only when Inspector Watson produced his police identity card that the doormen allowed entrance to speak to the manager - and only on condition that Inspector Watson would be responsible for the group going to speak to the manager". She said the matter illustrates "everyday occurrences of discrimination against Irish Travellers."