Hotel ordered to pay €5k to Traveller girls for cancelling Communion party three days before event

Finding that the hotel discriminated against all three because they are Travellers under the Equal Status Act, Mr Dolan stated that the evidence presented by the hotel “lacks a level of credibility”.

A hotel has been ordered to pay out €5,000 compensation to two young Traveller girls and their mother after cancelling a planned Holy Communion celebration for the girls just three days before the event.

In a ruling at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Adjudication Officer, Jim Dolan ordered the hotel pay the mother €3,000 for the discrimination and €1,000 each to her two daughters planning to have their Holy Communion party at the hotel.

Finding that the hotel discriminated against all three under the Equal Status Act, because they are Travellers, Mr Dolan stated that the evidence presented by the hotel “lacks a level of credibility”.

In her evidence, the mother told the WRC hearing that she booked a function room at the hotel for May 19, 2018 in January 2018 for the purposes of celebrating the First Holy Communion of her two children.

She outlined that 15 to 20 children and around 20 adults would have attended the function.

In the days that followed, the woman and her husband attended at the hotel to pay a €100 deposit, which was accepted, and to choose food and decorations for the event.

In the following weeks, the mother also booked a clown and DJ for entertainment at the event.

She also purchased a cake and bought banners and decorations for use at the event. She invited her family members to attend, including family travelling from the UK.

However, on May 16, 2018 - just three days before the function, while in Dublin to collect her daughters’ Communion dresses - the mother received a call from the manager of the hotel.

The manager informed her that he was cancelling her booking for May 19, 2018 and advised her that the function room had been double-booked.

The mother told the WRC that she was shocked, and immediately raised her concerns that it would be extremely difficult to make alternative arrangements at such late notice. She said the manager indicated that they could have a table in the hotel lounge instead, but that they could not bring a cake, entertainment or decorations.

The mother did not accept this offer. She became very upset on the phone and indicated that she had family members travelling from the UK to attend the event and she was being put in a terrible situation.

The mother attended at the hotel that evening and an employee apologised to the woman over the mistake with the bookings and returned her deposit of €100. The employee told her that nothing could be done about the error.

The mother ultimately found an alternative venue for the celebration. However, this venue could not accommodate the number of guests originally intended to attend the occasion. Nor could it facilitate the entertainment that she had organised for the event.

The mother, represented by Sinéad Lucey from the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), argued that her surname is common among Traveller families in the Wicklow area and they are easily identifiable as members of the Traveller community.

The Traveller woman argued that their booking was cancelled on the basis of their membership of the Traveller community and that the hotel has not provided her with any credible alternative explanation for the cancellation.

The woman presented evidence of negative publicity in local newspapers surrounding members of the Traveller community who were passing through the local area in and around the time of the cancellation.

The woman also presented evidence of members of the Traveller community, unrelated to her, parking caravans in a car park connected with the hotel in or around the time of the cancellation.

She also gave evidence of negative posts on social media surrounding this in and around the time of the cancellation.

It was the complainant’s belief that the hotel believed she and her family were associated with those other members of the Traveller community, and so decided to cancel the booking.

Ms Lucey argued that the action of the hotel were upsetting to all three complainants and in particular was a huge stress and inconvenience to the mother in having to find a new venue.

The owner of the hotel - represented by Arklow-based solicitor, Andrew Tarrant - stated that he would not allow any staff member act in a discriminatory manner and that all are welcome to his premises.

The hotel owner stated that that a terrible mistake had been made over the booking and when the mistake was discovered an alternative location on the premises had been offered to the complainant and her family.

The owner stated that he had been 25 years in the licensed trade and 12 of those years at the present establishment.

The owner was very apologetic about the circumstances of the cancellation.

The manager who accepted the booking told the WRC hearing that the mistake was only discovered on May 16, when the first party bookers had arrived to pay for their function and the complainant was contacted immediately.