Irish Rail under fire for free travel pass ban on gay partners

[Commuticon]

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...s-1469830.html

Irish Rail under fire for free travel pass ban on gay partners
By Ciaran Byrne and Allison Bray
Friday September 05 2008
IARNROD Eireann has ordered its ticket checking staff to stop the partners or companions of gay people using free-travel passes.
The move, outlined in a confidential memo, has provoked anger in the gay community which has accused Irish Rail of active discrimination.
Irish Rail only allows couples -- strictly defined as a man and a woman -- to use the passes, a practice dubbed "stone-age" by campaigners.
The company last night defended the latest crackdown, claiming it is simply enforcing Department of Social and Family Affairs rules. The department says "companion" travel passes can only be used by a married couple or a cohabiting couple -- defined as a man and woman.
Those receiving old-age pensions, blind persons' pensions, and disability allowances are those mostly entitled to free-travel passes.
An Irish Rail memo pasted inside a ticket booth at Dublin's Heuston Station refers to an amendment of the Social Welfare Bill in 2004 which was introduced to stop same-sex couples availing of free travel.
The memo, stamped 2008, was signed by the manager for revenue protection for Irish Rail and says gay couples "are not entitled" to a married/partner type pass.
It adds only those "of a different gender" are allowed to use the pass.
It is understood the latest crackdown was ordered after Irish Rail noticed a number of elderly same-sex couples had attempted to travel on the passes. But campaigners expressed surprise that Irish Rail has now decided to take a "proactive" approach to enforcing a ban they say is discriminatory.
Kieran Rose, chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN), said the gay rights organisation would be concerned about such a move against homosexual couples.
"It highlights the urgency of bringing in the Civil Partnership Bill," he said of the bill introduced in June that would afford gay and cohabitating heterosexual couples the same legal status as married couples
Tribunal
It would appear that Irish Rail's travel pass policy would be illegal under the new legislation, which has yet to pass the Dail, he said.
But he stopped short of taking the Government to court or a tribunal to fight the ban.
"We'd be happy to meet with the relevant organisations to bring forward an appropriate solution," he told the Irish Independent last night.
A spokesman for the Equality Authority said it has not received any complaints to date on the matter.
However, in 2003 an Equality Authority tribunal ruled in favour of a gay couple who claimed CIE -- the parent company of Irish Rail -- was discriminatory in its free-travel pass scheme on the basis of sexual orientation.
A spokesman for Irish Rail said: "Iarnrod Eireann, in common with other public transport providers, is obliged to ensure the terms of the Free-Travel Scheme as set out by the Department of Social and Family Affairs are adhered to.
"The DSFA pays for free travel, and therefore it is the authority which sets the parameters of who is and who is not entitled to free travel."

[Commuticon]

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...w-1470620.html

Irish Rail denies bias in travel pass row
By Allison Bray
Saturday September 06 2008
THE Government is practising "legalised discrimination" by implementing a policy that bans gay couples from availing of free travel available to heterosexual couples, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) claimed last night.
Campaigners for gay rights and the ICCL maintain the 2004 amendment to the Social Welfare Bill -- introduced by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan -- is discriminatory and defies the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Irish Independent revealed yesterday that an Irish Rail memo tells ticket inspectors "only named persons that have signed the rear of the pass and that are of a different gender are entitled to use the pass".
ICCL director Mark Kelly said Irish Rail has a case to answer for enforcing the law by declining "companion" passes issued to gay travel pass holders.
"What they're doing isn't contrary to the current Irish law, but the current law is legalised discrimination," said Mr Kelly.
The policy is the direct result of a challenge mounted by a gay couple in 2003 against the Department of Family and Social Affairs when the partner of a gay man was refused a companion pass even though they were both otherwise eligible for the scheme.
The Equality Authority ordered the department to issue the pass to the partner as well as ordering it to pay each man €1,500 in compensation, finding it had breached the law.
But rather than amending the department's policy to bring it in line with equality legislation, Ms Coughlan changed the law to take advantage of a loophole in the Equal Status Act that allows for exemptions to the act on a statutory basis, Mr Kelly said. Ms Coughlan did not return calls from the Irish Independent last night to explain why she introduced the bill.
Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny, meanwhile, denied the company was being discriminatory, insisting it was simply abiding by the law. "It's not our policy. We have no discretion in that regard. It's entirely a matter for the department," he said.
Law
Other state-owned transport providers belonging to the CIE group -- including Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus -- said that while they have no active enforcement policy, they would be required by law to enforce the policy if the issue arose.
However, a spokeswoman for the privately owned Luas system said it has no such policy and would accept travel passes used by gay couples. "There's no such policy here. If you have a valid ticket, that's it," she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Social and Family Affairs last night confirmed the policy still holds, but added: "It is under review as part of a wholesale review of all Government legislation to comply with the Equal Status Act 2000."
- Allison Bray

[Thomas J Stamp]

I have to admit, it was a good spot by that blogger in the first place, and we're happy to help if any Gay rights organisation wants us to, but really this is something that they would be far better than us at as they would have the contacts and the lobbyists in place in contact with the relevant government and opposition people.

Locked (again).