Courts / Galway / Report
WRC rejects equality claim by UG academic over professorship bid
Summary
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has rejected an equality claim brought by Mary Dempsey, an assistant professor at the University of Galway, under the Employment Equality Act 1998. Ms Dempsey alleged that the university discriminated against her on the grounds of gender and age when it refused her promotion to a professorship in 2022. She argued that the academic promotions committee ignored the impact of past discrimination, including restrictive contracts and limited research opportunities, on her career trajectory. The university denied these allegations, asserting that Ms Dempsey fell short in teaching, funding, and research output assessments. Adjudicator Peter O'Brien noted that while Ms Dempsey had previously secured €81,000 in compensation for gender and disability discrimination in 2015, she was not entitled to preferential treatment based on that past situation. The adjudicator stated that other candidates should not be disadvantaged by the complainant's history and found that she was not discriminated against in the recent promotion process. Consequently, the WRC dismissed her complaint, upholding the university's decision to reject her bid for the professorship.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: WRC rejects equality claim by UG academic over professorship bid. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial
When:
- 2025-09-09 Publication
Why: An academic who claimed she was unfairly turned down for a promotion because assessors "ignored" the impact of past discrimination on her career trajectory has failed in an equality claim against the University of Galway. CNI source report
Case subjects
Applicant
Applicant
Places mentioned
Topics
Related court reports
- Appearance of tips machine in cafe that pulled in €5k unexplained, tribunal notes
- Judge speaks out about toxic masculinity while jailing young man for rape
- 'You ruined my life,' rape victim tells older brother
- Retired Franciscan brother jailed for 11 years for raping boy
- Lab had to decontaminate first aid room after technician found to have been napping, wearing lead-exposed work gear, tribunal told
- Lithuanian man admits engaging in terrorist plot to attack mosque
If a fact, identity, locality or legal outcome needs review, email the newsroom with this report's details prefilled.
Email a correction request