A former Paralympic athlete has failed in an equality claim against a convenience store in Dublin after being stopped briefly at a shop entrance with her guide dog last year.
In a decision published on Monday, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) rejected a complaint of disability discrimination by Nadine Lattimore against NM Palmerston Retail Investments Ltd, trading as Centra on Parnell Street in Dublin 1.
Ms Lattimore, who represented Ireland in track and field in the London Paralympic Games in 2012, is blind and has been a guide dog user for over a decade and a half.
Her case against the Centra store under the Equal Status Act 2000 was her fourth discrimination complaint against a business in the north inner city of Dublin in the last two years.
RM Block
Ms Lattimore said in evidence to the WRC last September she went into the shop about 9am on the morning of December 18th, 2024, with her guide dog, only to hear a member of staff telling her that dogs were “not allowed in the store”.
She stopped before she heard someone calling out to her to come in, she said.
After seeking out the manager and speaking with him, she left after getting the company contact details from him.
Ms Lattimore said she “should not have encountered any negative interaction” and that there had been “blatant” discrimination against her.
Subhan Asharaf, a part-time worker at the shop, told the WRC in evidence he was working at the shop’s coffee machine when he saw “a lady with a dog”.
His evidence was that after asking her to stop, he realised it was a “special dog” and told her to “go ahead”. Under cross-examination, from Ms Lattimore, he said he was “scared” of the dog because of its size.
Noel Dunne, the owner of the shop, said he had “never refused access to a guide dog or a working dog” since he opened the shop in 2006. The incident had only taken 15 seconds, he said.
Under questioning from Ms Lattimore, Mr Dunne gave evidence he explained the dog policy verbally to each of his staff when they started work for him.
Morgane Conaty BL, instructed by Daniel McLoughlin of Comyn Kelleher Tobin Solicitors for the respondent, submitted shop was in a “challenging” location in Dublin city. She said it had a policy of restricting dogs from coming in because of a history of “local youths calling to the premises with large, aggressive and dangerous dogs”.
Counsel argued the shop did all it could to accommodate Ms Lattimore. She said Ms Lattimore was reasonably accommodated when she was invited into the store. There was an immediate apology from the first worker which was “reinforced” by the manager.
“A momentary lapse or unintentional mistake that was immediately corrected cannot amount to a failure to reasonably accommodate or to less favourable treatment,” Ms Conaty submitted.
In his decision, adjudicator John Harraghy agreed with the respondent’s stance. Mr Asharaf, he found, “did not at first recognise the guide dog, but promptly corrected the position”.
“To interpret this brief incident over a 15-second time frame as constituting discrimination requires a degree of inference which I do not consider to be supported by the evidence,” he wrote.
He rejected the discrimination complaint and ruled that the shop “did not engage in prohibited conduct” under the Equal Status Act.
Last year, Ms Lattimore secured €14,000 on foot of three separate rulings of disability discrimination against businesses in north inner city Dublin over incidents when she was using her guide dog.
In July 2024, discount retailer Dealz was ordered to pay Ms Lattimore €7,000 in compensation for the “humiliation” she suffered when a security guard tried to tell her that her guide dog, Pilot, was “not allowed” into its store in the Ilac Centre in Dublin 1 in August 2023.
In September 2024, Lidl was ordered to pay Ms Lattimore €2,000 over what she called an “embarrassing and humiliating” incident at a supermarket in the north inner city in February that year. On that occasion, a worker had expressed concerns about Pilot potentially “licking the food” in its bakery aisle, Ms Lattimore said.
In December 2024, Eddie Rockets was directed to pay Ms Lattimore €5,000, having admitted to discrimination when a worker at its Parnell Street restaurant told the complainant she would have to take a seat by the entrance if she was to bring her guide dog in.
In May this year, the tribunal ruled it did not have jurisdiction to consider a complaint against a private accommodation host in Northern Ireland who said she initially turned down a booking from Ms Lattimore because of a “deep-rooted fear of dogs”.
