This was an Irish decision that considered the application of Directive 2000/78/EC. The claimants were volunteers in the Offaly Civil Defence who were both over 70 years old. They were made to retire pursuant to the terms of Civil Defence's Office Notice 7/91 which stated the upper age limit of membership as 65. The claimants alleged age discrimination.

It was firstly determined that the claimants were employees for the purposes of the Employee Equality Acts and the Equality Officer had jurisdiction to hear the claim. The Equality Officer considered the terms of the Directive which states that Member States may provide that differences of treatment on grounds of age shall not constitute discrimination if they are objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, and if the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.

The Officer considered that although the respondent could set various retirement ages for members of the organisation depending on the demands of their roles, such a justification test could not be directed at the circumstances of an individual complainant, but must be based on clear policy grounds. Such policy grounds were never identified, and in the absence of any such objective justification the complainants' retirement amounted to discriminatory dismissal on the ground of age. http://bit.ly/ZncIJk