The Workplace Relations Commission found Ann Marie McCarthy’s complaint of discrimination in access to social housing was not well founded, while identifying serious failures in Cork City Council’s housing allocation administration. The decision was dated 15 November 2022.
The case concerned an unsuccessful bid for a bungalow through the Council’s Choice Based Letting system in October 2020. McCarthy said her family’s housing-list record was inaccurate and their housing and medical circumstances had not been properly considered. The Council said the property was allocated based on assessed need, allocation priorities and representations from its Traveller Accommodation Unit.
The adjudication officer found fragmented administration, inaccurate records and shortcomings in the bidding process, including the Council’s failure to respond to McCarthy’s ES1 form. But because McCarthy and a member of the successful tenant family were both Travellers, the officer could not find that she had been treated less favourably than someone in the same Traveller grouping. She had not established a prima facie case of discrimination.