A barman at south Co Dublin’s Old Conna Golf Club is set to allege that a number of his female co-workers have enjoyed better pay and conditions than him despite his seniority.
James Keegan, a part-time employee of the golf club since January 2018, has referred an employment rights claim against the Old Conna Golf Club on the Dublin-Wicklow border near Bray to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
At a preliminary hearing on Friday human resources consultant James McEvoy of Work Matters Ireland said his client was “unhappy” about alleged differences between his client’s pay and working hours and those of three named woman comparators, all of whom had been hired after Mr Keegan.
Mr McEvoy said he was seeking copies of the rosters and pay scales pertaining to those comparators during their periods of employment with the club.
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The female staff had dipped “in and out” of employment at various stages between early 2020 and included one “recent starter” who was on “a greater rate of pay” than his client, he said.
Mr McEvoy said his client had already attempted to address his grievances with the club’s general manager, his predecessor, and the club’s president, Paul Meany, before taking sick leave from April 5th, 2025on the basis of “workplace stress”.
“They were very aware that a grievance existed,” Mr McEvoy said of the club’s management.
His client was also concerned that as a part-time worker he was receiving “less favourable treatment to full-timers” in relation to Sunday work, Mr McEvoy said. He asked that the tribunal direct further disclosures from the club pertaining to two named groundsmen.
Solicitor Peter Murphy of McInnes Dunne Murphy, for the club, said: “If Mr Keegan is entitled to information, we’ll provide him with information. I’m not sure what he’s seeking and the basis for it.”
He said it was unclear how Mr Keegan was “comparing himself to groundsmen if his complaint is a gender equality claim”.
Both sides’ representatives agreed the matter needed to be adjourned, and undertook to exchange correspondence regarding the documents sought by Mr McEvoy.
Addressing the representatives, adjudicator Catherine Byrne said: “There may be some benefit to you putting your heads together with the principals of the golf club. Sometimes, the solutions are more effective if they evolve from within.”
She adjourned the matter, telling the parties the matter was unlikely to be relisted by the WRC before the end of the year.
The statute or statutes under which Mr Keegan has referred the dispute have not yet been disclosed publicly.
