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FLAC welcomes ruling in discrimination case

Free Legal Aid Centres (FLAC) has welcomed the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of an appeal taken by a hotel that sought to overturn a High Court decision in favour of a Traveller family. 

FLAC, which represents the family, says that the case centred around the procedural issue of whether the family was entitled to take a judicial-review case. 

In 2022, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that the Charleville Park Hotel (which is owned by Atlantic Troy Limited) had discriminated against the family, having refused to honour a booking for the stated reason that they could not provide a personal credit card. 

The WRC awarded the family compensation and directed the hotel to review its credit-card policy. 

‘Precautionary measure’ 

The hotel successfully appealed the WRC ruling to the Circuit Court. In the judicial-review case taken by the family, the High Court decided that the Circuit Court hearing “was unfair as a result of excessive intervention” by the Circuit Court judge. 

The hotel argued that the family should have taken a ‘statutory appeal’ and not a judicial review.

FLAC says that the family pursued both options as a precautionary measure but was ultimately given permission by the High Court to take a judicial-review case. 

In his judgment dismissing the hotel’s appeal, Mr Justice Meenan found that it was appropriate for the family to take the judicial-review case because that procedure allowed the High Court judge to make findings of fact, while a statutory appeal would have been limited to questions of law. 

‘Legal clarity’ 

“The [High Court] judge was somewhat critical of the respondents pursuing both a statutory appeal and judicial-review proceedings at the same time. I do not share that criticism,” the Court of Appeal judge stated.  

FLAC’s managing solicitor Sinéad Lucey said that its clients had shown “remarkable perseverance and bravery” during the long-running case. 

“The decision of the Court of Appeal provides legal clarity and underscores the very important role of judicial review in upholding the rule of law and access to justice for people who have been subject to unfair decision-making processes in lower courts, tribunals or by State bodies,” she added.