Irish pub gets rap for "younger women, older men" policy
Thu Jan 15, 6:32 AM ET Add Offbeat - AFP to My Yahoo!
DUBLIN (AFP) - Two sisters who say they were denied admission to an Irish pub because the management wanted "younger women and older men" as customers should be compensated, the Equality Tribunal ruled.
Suzanne Crawford, 29, and Margaret Crawford, 36, said they were turned away by bouncers at the Bootlegger Bar in downtown Limerick, southwest Ireland, in May 2001 because they were "too old".
In one of the first decisions of its kind in Ireland, equality officer Brian O'Byrne ruled that the Crawford sisters were discriminated on age grounds, in breach of equal status laws passed by the Irish parliament in 2000.
He ordered the Bootlegger to pay each sister 300 euros (380 dollars) for "hurt, humiliation and loss of amenity suffered".
The Bootlegger said it was primarily a restaurant and totally rejected they operated a discriminatory policy that favoured "younger women and older men" as customers.
Its management told the tribunal that when the alleged incident was investigated, staff had "no recollection of such an incident occurring."
O'Byrne concluded that discrimination had occurred, but he added that he was prepared to accept that it had been an isolated incident.
Thu Jan 15, 6:32 AM ET Add Offbeat - AFP to My Yahoo!
DUBLIN (AFP) - Two sisters who say they were denied admission to an Irish pub because the management wanted "younger women and older men" as customers should be compensated, the Equality Tribunal ruled.
Suzanne Crawford, 29, and Margaret Crawford, 36, said they were turned away by bouncers at the Bootlegger Bar in downtown Limerick, southwest Ireland, in May 2001 because they were "too old".
In one of the first decisions of its kind in Ireland, equality officer Brian O'Byrne ruled that the Crawford sisters were discriminated on age grounds, in breach of equal status laws passed by the Irish parliament in 2000.
He ordered the Bootlegger to pay each sister 300 euros (380 dollars) for "hurt, humiliation and loss of amenity suffered".
The Bootlegger said it was primarily a restaurant and totally rejected they operated a discriminatory policy that favoured "younger women and older men" as customers.
Its management told the tribunal that when the alleged incident was investigated, staff had "no recollection of such an incident occurring."
O'Byrne concluded that discrimination had occurred, but he added that he was prepared to accept that it had been an isolated incident.
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