A Traveller mother was harassed and discriminated against by a primary school when a garda joined what was a private parent-teacher meeting, an equality tribunal has found.
The equality officer also ruled that the school failed to provide reasonable accommodation to her son in that he was not prioritised to see the educational psychologist so supports could be put in place to meet his needs.
The child was victimised when he was refused Confirmation because he was taking a complaint against the school, the tribunal found.
The equality officer awarded the mother €850 for discrimination and harassment. Her son was awarded €3,000 as redress for the effects of discrimination and €2,000 for victimisation in relation to missing Confirmation.
The mother said she was called to the school on several occasions about her son's behaviour. She alleged that at one stage her son was transferred on a full-time basis to a resource teacher for Travellers and he was happy there. On October 26th, 2001, she was called to the school to attend a meeting about his return to his class teacher.
At the meeting, a garda entered, having been invited by the principal. The mother had not been told a garda would participate and left the meeting in some distress. She withdrew her children for three weeks and they returned after an apology by the principal.
The equality officer said she was satisfied the meeting was a private parent-teacher meeting and the mother did not give her permission for the garda to attend.
She said it would be highly unusual for a garda to attend a parent-teacher meeting. She was satisfied that from the mother's perspective, as a member of the Traveller community, it was reasonable for her to find the presence of a garda intimidating.
The equality officer found the school failed to do all that was reasonable to accommodate the needs of the child, who has an attention deficit disorder.