Dublin's Russell Court Hotel on Harcourt Street has agreed to install a wheelchair-accessible toilet by July 25th and to pay an undisclosed sum to a disabled man who attended a function after being assured the premises contained a wheelchair-accessible toilet when it did not.
At Richmond District Court in Dublin yesterday, legal representative for Triglen Holdings Ltd, trading as the Russell Court, conceded that Jimmy Hayes had been given incorrect information about the premises' accessibility.
Barrister Siobhán Phelan, on behalf of the Equality Authority and representing Mr Hayes, reached an agreement with the hotel whereby a wheelchair-accessible toilet would be installed as well as undisclosed compensation paid to Mr Hayes.
The court heard that Mr Hayes attended the hotel on May 27th last for a function with work colleagues. "Inquiries were made as to whether the premises were wheelchair accessible and it was confirmed that they were," Ms Phelan told the court.
The function was held in the hotel's beer garden and other wheelchair-bound persons attended. "During the course of the evening, he needed to use the toilet facilities," Ms Phelan said.
"Colleagues made inquiries on his behalf as to where the disabled toilets were, but when he attempted to use them, he was unable to gain access to the cubicle. An embarrassing sequence of events ensued."
Kevin Darcy, for the hotel, said his client apologised to Mr Hayes but added "the premises are wheelchair-accessible, the difficulty was with the toilet".
Mr Darcy said the hotel had now purchased adjacent land where it would be possible to construct a wheelchair-accessible toilet as part of the hotel.