Tribunal orders school to admit Traveller boy
The Equality Tribunal made the ruling against Christian Brothers High School after hearing the case brought by Mary Stokes on behalf of her son, John Stokes.
In evidence the tribunal was told John Stokes, the eldest of seven children, had attended a local primary school in Clonmel and applied for admission to the high school in November 2009.
The school has an admissions policy which says that in the first round, the school will assess all applications and select those students who have maximum eligibility under the following criteria:
* A boy whose parents seek to submit their son to a Roman Catholic education.
* A boy who has a brother who attended or is attending the school or who is the child of a past pupil.
* A boy who attended for his primary education a school within the locality or demographic area of the school.
At that stage it might also allocate some places under a number of criteria including if the family have located through work, on the basis of the urban/rural balance on a proportional basis, in exceptional circumstances or to students living the catchment area who are diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
The second round of admissions would be based on a lottery.
The tribunal heard that John Stokes met two of the first round selection criteria in that he wanted a Roman Catholic education and that he attended the local primary school. It was submitted that he could not have a sibling who had attended the school as he was the oldest child and as his father never progressed to second level education he could not have had a parent who attended there.
John Stokes missed out on the place in the lottery and was placed on a waiting list which he was still on at the time of the hearing. The tribunal was told one boy who applied late but had full criteria was entered in the second round lottery.
The tribunal found the Stokes family proved that the priority given to the sons of former pupils put members of the Traveller community at a particular disadvantage compared with non-Travellers and the school had not proved the criterion was objectively justified. The school should immediately offer a place to John Stokes.
