The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in an appeal by the State against a High Court ruling that the Equality Authority should be added to proceedings brought by an elderly Traveller couple in chronic ill health aimed at securing a heated caravan with indoor plumbing.
The couple have been living for the past eight years in a decrepit mobile home on a "temporary" halting site in west Dublin.
In May the High Court ruled that the Equality Authority should be joined to the proceedings as amicus curiae - a role as assistant to the court on legal issues.
The State appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court which yesterday reserved judgment after hearing submissions from counsel for the State and the couple, Brigid and Paddy Doherty.
Anthony Collins SC, for the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, submitted the the only proceedings in which the Equality Authority could be included were strictly defined by the Equality Act of 2004 and did not include the action brought by the Dohertys. He said the Dohertys' proceedings were judicial review proceedings which were being brought outside the equality code. Mr Collins submitted that there were express powers which determined when the authority could act as amicus curiae and they did not apply to the Doherty proceedings.
Frank Callanan SC, for the Dohertys, submitted that the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to join the authority as amicus curiae in the proceedings.
At earlier hearings, the court was told that Brigid Doherty is almost 70 and was admitted to Tallaght hospital extremely ill on December 12th last. While she is now well enough to go home, she remains in hospital because her medical advisers do not wish to release her home until her living conditions have improved.
Her husband Paddy (74), who also suffers from ill health, said in an affidavit that the couple's poor living conditions could be addressed through provision of a properly heated and insulated mobile home with an indoor toilet and shower.