The Workplace Relations Commission found that Tarbert Island Maritime Club did not engage in prohibited conduct after David O'Gorman complained that his application for membership was refused because of his family name. The decision was dated 31 May 2023.
O'Gorman said the club repeatedly failed to give him its rule book. The club said his application lacked a sponsor's signature and he had not been proposed by a full, paid-up member.
The adjudicator said family name was not a protected ground under the Equal Status Act and found that O'Gorman had not connected his treatment to any ground covered by the law. The adjudicator described the failure to provide the rule book as grossly unfair, but found no prohibited conduct. The complaint was not well founded.