High Court finds that a young Traveller family were subject to an “unfair” Circuit Court discrimination appeal.

13 Sep 2024

The TEJP welcomes the recent High Court judicial review, O'Neill v. Atlantic Troy Ltd [2024] IEHC 541 where Mr Justice Barry O'Donnell  found that a young Traveller family were subject to an “unfair” Circuit Court discrimination appeal.

The WRC in 2022 found that the Charleville Park Hotel had discriminated against Bridget O’Reilly, Philip O’Neill and their children based on a refusal to provide emergency accommodation, amounting to discrimination under the Equal Status Acts. The Adjudicator recognising that the O'Reilly family were refused accommodation based on the Traveller Community and Housing Assistance grounds.The WRC had awarded the family €22,000 in compensation. 

The Charleville Park Hotel appealed the WRC decision to the Circuit Court, where it was subsequently overturned. The Circuit Court judge finding that the conduct of the hotel didn't amount to discrimination. 

In the High Court judgment quashing the Circuit Court decision, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell of the High Court noted that "viewed objectively there was an unfortunate failure to provide fairprocedures in terms of the actual conduct of the hearing. Accordingly, it will be necessary to quash the decision of the CircuitCourt and remit the matter for a fresh hearing before a different judge."

In reaching this decision, Mr Justice O'Donnell recognised that the:

• .“… [Circuit] judge initiated and effectively took over [Ms O’Reilly’s] examination in chief.  Of the first 63 questions asked, only 6 questions were asked by Ms O’Reilly’s counsel... the learned Judge expressed considerable scepticism that the burden of proof had been discharged.”
• “The evidence for the respondent was given by… Mr [Pat] McDonagh. Strikingly, all of the questions in his examination in chief were asked by the learned Judge, and most were leading questions directed towards explaining and justifying the position adopted by the Hotel.”

The High Court concluded that therefore “…the proceedings in the Circuit Court were rendered unfair by the excessive interventions of the learned Judge.”

Mr Justice O’Donnell was also asked to consider whether language used by the Circuit Judge gave rise to a finding of bias. While he did not find objective bias, he did comment that: "the language used by the learned Judge was inappropriate and derogatory, even if that was not the intention. The language should not have been used."

Further recognising that:

“It is fundamental that every person who brings a case before the courts at any level is entitled to expect an impartial hearing uncontaminated by pre-existing views or bias, and the use of derogatory or pejorative language – whether intended or inadvertent – carries a real risk that that expectation will be undermined”.

Mr Justice O’Donnell will now make an order for the appeal to be “remitted to the Circuit Court to be dealt with by a different judge.”

The O'Reilly's were represented by the Free Legal Advice Centre, Traveller Legal Unit.