The Workplace Relations Commission rejected eight complaints by Coleman Sherlock, Pricilla Sherlock and six minors against Bishop Martin Drennan, finding that access to a first holy communion Mass was not a service covered by the Equal Status Act.
The complainants said Traveller women were excluded under a dress code while other attendees wearing similarly inadmissible clothing were allowed in. They argued that access to a church came within the Act. Bishop Martin Drennan disputed the allegations and argued that religious services were outside the Act’s scope.
The WRC decision was dated 12 August 2020. It found that the respondent had not engaged in prohibited conduct.