€70,000 award against council for religious discrimination

A local authority sacked a born-again Christian after he continued to preach his religious beliefs during work hours in spite of warnings from management.

Now, the Equality Tribunal has found that South Tipperary County Council discriminated against former executive engineer John McAteer on religious grounds and has ordered the local authority to pay him €70,000.

Prior to sacking Mr McAteer in July 2010, the council suspended him without pay for two months in 2009 and directed that he receive professional counselling for his compulsion to share his faith.