Traveller awarded €2,500 for discrimination

The Equality Authority has awarded €2,500 to a female Traveller following an incident on a train in which she was accused of complicity in the theft of another passenger's luggage.

Bridget O'Brien was taken from the train in Portlaoise and had her bags searched after a ticket-collector called gardaí.

The Equality Authority noted that the collector never spoke directly to Ms O'Brien about the allegations and failed to interview two apparent witnesses.