Eileen Flynn

Eileen Flynn (1955 – 9 September 2008) was a teacher in New Ross, County Wexford who was sacked for being pregnant while unmarried.cite news
url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0911/1221039067831.html
title = Eileen Flynn, teacher sacked in 1982, dies
work = The Irish Times
date = 11 September 2008
accessdate = 2008-09-13]

Eileen Flynn taught English and history at the Holy Faith Convent in New Ross. In August 1982 she was dismissed from her post. A letter sent to her by the school claimed that complaints had been made to the school by parents of pupils and said that she had rejected the schools norms of behaviour.

She was living with her partner Richie Roche, the father of her child, who was separated from his wife. (Irish law did not recognise divorce at the time). Eventually, she married Roche in 1997.

She took unfair dismissal cases to the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Circuit Court as well as to the High Court, eventually losing all cases.cite BAILII
country=ie
litigants=Flynn v. Power
court=IEHC
division=
year=1985
num=1
para=
date=1985-03-08]

The dismissal was controversial at the time [cite news
url = http://www.tribune.ie/news/editorial-opinion/article/2008/sep/14/the-heroic-legacy-of-eileen-roche/
title = The heroic legacy of Eileen Roche
author = Justine McCarthy
work = Sunday Tribune
date = 14 September 2008
accessdate = 2008-09-13] [cite news
url = http://www.independent.ie/national-news/teacher-who-learned-the-hardest-lesson-1475232.html
title = Teacher who learned the hardest lesson
author = Maeve Sheehan
date = 14 September 2008
work = Sunday Independent
accessdate = 2008-09-13] , she was featured in the mediacite web
url = http://cllrjoeryan.blogspot.com/2008/09/eileen-roche-formerly-flynn-rip.html
title = Councillor Joe Ryan on Eileen Flynn
accessdate = 2008-09-13] and was later referred to during Dáilcite web
url = http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0362/D.0362.198512030006.html
title = Dáil Éireann - Volume 362 - 3 December 1985 Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unfair Dismissals Act.
accessdate = 2008-09-13] and Seanad debates, including that on the [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998/en/act/pub/0021/index.html|Employment Equality Bill] .cite web
url = http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0150/S.0150.199703120009.html
title = Seanad Éireann - Volume 150 - 12 March 1997 Employment Equality Bill, 1996: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage.
accessdate = 2008-09-13]

She died suddenly on 9 September 2008 and her funeral was held on 12 September 2008.cite web
url = http://www.rip.ie/death_notices_detail.asp?NoticeID=53954
title = Death notice
accessdate = 2008-09-13]

Marguerite Bolger claims that such a case is still possible. [cite web
url = http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcms.horus.be%2Ffiles%2F99935%2FMediaArchive%2Fpdfevents%2FMarguerite%2520Bolger.pdf&ei=46vKSLzOBpK2Qa2ulaoK&usg=AFQjCNGaDx5vea-gUG8H58vW6L3r1H2GmA&sig2=EPj70jR825LnHTxHhIQ85A |title = Discrimination on Grounds of Religion: Theory and Practice (THE EUROPEAN NETWORK AGAINST RACISM CONFERENCE)
author = Marguerite Bolger
date = 23 October 2003
accessdate = 2008-09-13] Eileen Flynn herself was referred in the Seanad debates as saying that it would still be possible to dismiss her under the legislation being debated in 1997.cite web
url = http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0150/S.0150.199702200005.html
title = Seanad Éireann - Volume 150 - 20 February 1997 Employment Equality Bill, 1996: Second Stage.
accessdate = 2008-09-13]

References