Two Government Ministers have clashed over Bord Fáilte's controversial €250,000 sponsorship deal with the Irish Open golf championship, which is to be held at Portmarnock Golf Club next year.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, defended the use of State funds to support the event despite the club's policy of excluding women members.
He said he was "completely and utterly opposed" to the membership policy but "we are not supporting the club". Rather, he said, Bord Fáilte was supporting an important event in the sporting calender.
However, the Minister of State with special responsibility for equality, Mr Willie O'Dea, criticised the deal, saying he was concerned about the message this was sending out.
He said the club appeared to be in breach of the Equal Status Act, 2000, adding: "The State shouldn't be recognising breaches of its own legislation. I'm very disappointed by this."
His comments came ahead of an announcement by the Equality Authority that it would be writing to Portmarnock, asking for the club to open its doors to women and end its discriminatory treatment of female golfers.
If the club did not do so, the authority said, it would be obliged to consider bringing proceedings under the Act "for a declaration that the Portmarnock Golf Club is a discriminating club".
Section 9 of the Act allows for certain exemptions in the area of access, saying a club shall not be considered to be discriminating if its principal purpose is to cater for the needs of persons of a particular gender, religious belief, nationality or other recognised group.
Mr O'Dea said, however, that the primary purpose of a golf club was to play golf. Thus, he said, the exemption did not seem to apply to Portmarnock, which apart from Royal Dublin is the only golf club in the State to prohibit women members.
"I would not like to pre-empt a ruling on the matter, but my understanding of the legislation is that this was a narrow clause to cater for something like a local widows' club.
"It was never envisaged to apply to a golf club."
The Equality Authority said that since the introduction of the Act a significant number of golf clubs had sought voluntarily to comply with their obligations under it. It added that its "strong preference" was that Portmarnock did the same.
Arguably the club's best protection under the Act is subsection (1) (d), which allows for a restricted membership policy where a club "offers concessionary rates, fees or membership arrangements to persons who were or are disadvantaged by any such rule or practice."
Portmarnock does allow women to play for a nominal fee, under certain conditions, but they cannot attain membership. The only exception is the President, Mrs McAleese, who is afforded honorary membership by virtue of her office.
Bord Fáilte is understood to be channelling a minimum of €250,000 in State funds to the Portmarnock event, for which it is associate sponsor. The main sponsor, Nissan, is said to be contributing about €2 million.
A spokeswoman for Nissan said yesterday it was not commenting on the controversy. "We don't think it's for us to comment. We are sponsoring an event, not a golf club," she said.
The National Women's Council of Ireland has called on Bord Fáilte to withdraw its support for the event, while the chairwoman of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport and Tourism, Ms Cecilia Keaveney TD, had called for a review of loopholes in the Act regarding private golf clubs.
A spokesman for Portmarnock Golf Club was not available for comment.
