This was a preliminary ruling by the Tribunal in relation to complaints of race and religion discrimination made by a ‘reserve member’ of An Garda Siochána. The first preliminary matter was whether the complainant was an ‘employee’. On this point, the Tribunal relied on Section 15(6) of the Garda Siochána Act 2005, as amended by the Section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, which states that "a reserve member is a volunteer and does not perform his or her functions as such a member under a contract of employment".

The Tribunal took the view that this legislation impliedly amended the earlier Section 2(3)(a) of the Employment Equality Acts, so as to exclude reserve officers from the scope of