Equality Tribunal finds school admission policy discriminates against Travellers

In a case taken by the Irish Traveller Movement Law Centre, the Equality Tribunal has found a school's admission policy indirectly discriminatory against Travellers and has ordered the school to offer a place to the Complainant.

The school prioritised applicants where they: had a brother who had attended the school; were the child of a past pupil; or had close family ties with the school. The Complainant argued that this priorisation disproportionately affected members of the Traveller community and amounted to indirect discrimination. He argued that as a member of the Traveller community, his father was statistically much less likely to have attended second level education.

The Equality Tribunal reviewed the evidence and noted that Travellers of the Complainant's father's generation were most unlikely to have attended post-primary school. Having weighed up the statistics, they concluded that the policy of giving priority to sons of former pupils put the Complainant at a particular disadvantage. They proceeded to find that this blanket priority was not necessary to pursue the stated aim of fostering family loyalty to the school and was disproportionate.

The Tribunal ordered that the High School immediately offer a school place to the Complainant and that it review its admission policy.

Please click here to see the decision. Please click here to read more about the work of the ITM Law Centre.

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