The father of a disabled boy who claimed he was humiliated by being ejected from the grounds of Ireland’s biggest mosque by a garda during a row over parking during a religious festival has failed in a discrimination claim.
Khayyaam Noordally had accused the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland of breaching the Equal Status Act 2000 by preventing him from taking his disabled son into the mosque’s grounds by car on the Muslim holy day of Eid-al-Fitr in 2023.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) rejected his claim in a decision published on Friday, following a virtual hearing in October 2023.
Authorities at the Clonskeagh mosque told the WRC that its car park was full on the day, with double the number of attendees than usual there to mark the end of Ramadan.
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They maintained Mr Noordally tried to force his way and then blocked the gate when he did not get his way.
Mr Noordally said he arrived with his son by car to the mosque on Roebuck Road in Dublin 14 to find the main entrance gate half-closed so that only people on foot could enter.
“I asked them what about my son who is a wheelchair user,” Mr Noordally said.
He said he could see a space near the entrance where he could park safely but that a security worker posted at the gate “refused” access stating: “The car park is full and there’s no other car can get access.”
“I am here for my son, he is disabled. It is not the problem of my son he was born like that. He was born without a leg, he’s not able to walk,” he said.
Mr Noordally said that he was able to enter the site on foot later to find that the two of the disabled parking bays on the grounds were occupied by cars not displaying a blue badge, while a third was free – taking photos of what he found.
After he took the pictures, he said he was “pulled” off the grounds of the mosque by a garda.
“A garda was called to remove you from the premises, is that correct?” WRC adjudication officer Conor Stokes asked him.
“Yes,” Mr Noordally said.
Mosque administrator Ahmed Hassain gave evidence that between 2,000-2,500 people normally came to Clonskeagh to mark the end of Ramadan – but that 2023 was “exceptionally large”, quoting an estimate of 5,000 which he said had been made by an RTÉ News team present on the day.
He said parking was on a “first come, first served” basis and that by the time Mr Noordally arrived the gate was partially closed over because the car park was full – with some 80-90 per cent of attendees’ cars parked elsewhere, Mr Hassain said.
“He was not refused. He wanted to force his car to come in. He did not ask for wheelchair access,” Mr Hassain said. “The crowd was so big we knew he [would] cause hazards,” he added.
He said the security team would have stopped someone parking in a disabled bay if they saw it happen before their eyes, but otherwise it was “impossible to find the perpetrator” and have them move the vehicle.
Mr Stokes said photos submitted in evidence showed “a number of empty spaces” in the car park on the day.
Mr Hassain said some spaces in the car park had freed up after the end of the religious service, and questioned when the photos were taken.
“People do co-operate. Out of 5,000 people, arguably over 500 or 600 vehicles, maybe 100 cars came in – the rest had to go find other places to park,” Mr Hassain said.
Mr Noordally “drove into the gate, forcefully, even before he could go in and check”, Mr Hassain said.
He said security staff had not called gardaí on Mr Noordally but that they had already been there to assist with traffic management – and only “interfered” in the situation when they saw Mr Noordally’s car blocking the entrance.
“They said: ‘Park somewhere else and then finish your argument,’” Mr Hassain added.
“Imagine if an emergency happened, someone needs to go to hospital, or an ambulance [needs] to get in. The guards interfered on that basis, begging him to move. Nobody was rude to him. This man pushed, he was rude to everyone and rude to the guards, they said,” Mr Hassain continued.
Mr Stokes said that without a garda present, that amounted to hearsay.
In his decision, Mr Stokes wrote: “It is clear that the complainant was refused entry to the car park because it was already closed.” He concluded the decision to refuse access was not linked to disability.
“The complainant as a regular attendee would have been well aware of the necessity for arriving early during the festival celebrations,” he added. He dismissed the claim.
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