SIPTU said yesterday it was disappointed at the decision in Ms Smyth's case. "The option of an appeal to the Labour Court under statute is currently being examined," said Mr Brendan Hayes, SIPTU regional secretary.
The UCD lecturer who lost her Equality Tribunal case, in which she claimed the college discriminated against her on the grounds of her sex, is considering an appeal to the Labour Court through her union, SIPTU.
Ms Ailbhe Smyth, director of the Women's Education, Resource and Research Centre at UCD, took a case against the college to the Equality Tribunal when she failed to secure an associate professor post four years ago.
Ms Smyth was already a senior lecturer at the college when she applied for promotion to associate professor level in 1998. However, she was unsuccessful in the competition for posts.
Ms Smyth claimed she had been discriminated against on gender grounds as she had superior qualifications to four successful male candidates. She also alleged there was a history of bias against female candidates for senior academic positions at UCD. Twenty candidates were promoted at the time, one of whom was a woman.
The Tribunal equality officer, Mr Raymond Walsh, concluded that Ms Smyth failed to demonstrate a prima-facie case of discrimination against the college.
In his conclusion Mr Walsh found in favour of the college's view that Ms Smyth's lack of a Ph.D degree was a factor in her failing to be appointed to the associate professor post.
He also accepted that Ms Smyth's name did not go forward to the final selection board while other female candidates from her faculty group who held Ph.D degrees did go through.
However, the equality officer made a non-binding recommendation that UCD should take specific measures to ensure gender balance on future selection panels. He also suggested that, if necessary, the college should look to other academic institutions to provide suitably qualified panel members if they were not available internally.
He also recommended that the college retain the marking records and any other relevant records from these panels for a period of at least one year from the end of each competition.
"A decision on this matter will be made within the statutory time frame of 42 days. Any further comment would be inappropriate until this process is complete," he added.
