A well-known Dublin hotel that refused to take a booking for a Traveller's wedding has been ordered to pay €4,000 in compensation by the Equality Tribunal.
Mr Martin Maughan and Ms Teresa McDonagh had tried to book the Spa Hotel in Lucan, Co Dublin, for their wedding reception in June 2001, but were told the date requested was not available.
In the case, one of 12 published yesterday, the equality officer, Ms Bernadette Treanor, said the couple had been "misled" as to the availability of the hotel on he requested date. The hotel admitted to the tribunal that it had no other booking on that date.
Mr Martin and Ms McDonagh had been discriminated against on the grounds that they were Travellers, Ms Treanor said, and awarded them €2,000 each in compensation.
The tribunal upheld six of the 12 cases that came before it in March. Five cases were brought under the Equal Status legislation, three of which were successful, while seven cases were brought under the Employment Equality Act, with three successes. All of the Equal Status cases were taken on the grounds of membership of the Traveller community.
In one case, Mr John Stokes was awarded €600 for the "hurt, humiliation and loss of amenity suffered" after he was refused service from the Priory Inn, Trim, Co Meath.
Mr Stokes was barred because of a previous serious incident involving Travellers, the tribunal found, even though the manager accepted he had not been involved in any violent behaviour.
In a separate case, four Traveller women were awarded €200 each in compensation against the International Hotel, Killarney, Co Kerry, after they were refused service.
Ms Helen O'Driscoll, Ms Mary Sparling, Ms Teresa Moriarty and Ms Helen O'Brien alleged they had gone for a drink in the bar of the hotel but were refused service, without explanation. Two of the women returned two days later to speak to the manager, Mr Terence Mulcahy.
They claimed Mr Mulcahy said he regretted what had happened but that there had been "trouble" in bar in past involving Travellers. The women were offered drinks vouchers but were told only two of them at a time could come to the bar and use the vouchers.
The equality officer, Mr Gerry Hickey, said the vouchers were a genuine attempt at compensation, however "the conditions attaching to the offer had the effect of compounding the situation for the complainants".
He found they had been discriminated against on the grounds of Traveller status.
Under the Employment Equality legislation, a woman was awarded €5,000 from the gym where she had worked in compensation for sexual harassment by a male colleague.
The woman alleged that her colleague had made inappropriate and humiliating comments about her body and on one occasion had given her a "robust slap" on the bottom. The man denied the incident.
The equality officer, Ms Anne-Marie Lynch, said she found the woman's evidence "more compelling".
Names are not released in cases of sexual harassment.
