The Workplace Relations Commission found that Carlow County Council discriminated against retained firefighter Jimmy Murphy on age grounds and ordered the Council to pay him €15,000 compensation. The decision was dated 16 December 2024.
Murphy complained after the Council refused to extend his employment beyond the mandatory retirement age of 60. The WRC accepted that the retirement age had legitimate aims, including the physical and mental demands of fire service work, but found the Council had not shown that applying the age limit was an appropriate and necessary way to achieve those aims.