The Labour Court upheld a €12,700 age discrimination award to Brian Fitzpatrick after finding that An Garda Síochána’s age cap for recruits was not justified. In its determination dated 25 January 2023, the Court rejected the employer’s appeal and upheld the Equality Officer’s decision.
Fitzpatrick applied to join An Garda Síochána in 2007, aged 37, but his application was not processed because he exceeded the recruitment age limit of 35. He argued the cap was an unjustified age barrier. The respondents said it supported the force’s operational capacity, including physically demanding duties, specialist staffing and time to recover training investment before retirement.
The Court found the respondents had not shown that recruiting only people under 35 was necessary to protect the force’s operations, noting the absence of fitness data for serving Gardaí and that all Gardaí were expected to perform the full range of duties regardless of age. It also found the age limit was not justified by training costs or the need for a reasonable period of effective service before retirement.