Appeal against golf club ruling opens

THE Supreme Court has been urged to rule that Portmarnock Golf Club is a discriminatory club on grounds its “principal purpose” is to play golf and not, as the club claims, to cater only for the needs of men.

“Golf is not a need that is peculiar to persons of the male gender,” Frank Callanan, counsel for the Equality Authority, argued yesterday.

He was making submissions before the five-judge court on preliminary issues in the appeal by the authority against a High Court decision of 2005 that Portmarnock is not a “discriminating” club because it fell within exemption provisions in Section 9 of the Equal Status Act 2000.