Equality Officer Bernadette Treanor found Digger Jay’s Pub discriminated against 11 Traveller complainants by refusing them entry to an advertised event on 17 July 2003. In a decision dated 20 June 2008, she ordered the pub to pay each of them €700. The 11 complainants named in the award were Mary Sweeney, Ellen Sweeney, Ellen Conroy, Bridget Ward, Eileen Tighe, Kate Conroy, Margaret Sweeney, Breda Sweeney, Mary Teresa Sweeney, Mary Maughan and Thomas Maughan.
The complainants said a non-Traveller couple was admitted after paying the €10 entry fee, while they were told the event was private. Treanor found advance tickets were unnecessary, the pub had enough space and was prepared for a large attendance. She concluded that non-Travellers in similar circumstances would have been admitted. The respondent did not attend the hearing and provided no evidence to rebut the discrimination finding.
A twelfth complainant, Kathleen Cleary, did not attend the hearing. Her complaint was found not well founded because she had failed to establish a prima facie case on the Traveller ground; the merits were not decided.