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30th March 2018
11:40am BST
Gardai were called to a morning screening of Finding Dory at an Irish cinema after a family caused a furore over being asked to move from premium seats that had not paid for.
The Irish Independent reports that family tried to claim discrimination on the grounds of family status under the Equal Status Act as they were not provided with accommodation for a child’s buggy.
The family had paid for standard tickets and had been apparently told by the ticket office that they could 'sit anywhere they wanted' as there was only four other people attending the screening.
When the family sat in the premium seats at the front of the screen, which cost an additional €5 per seat, they were asked to move to seats just metres away as their ticket did not cover the premium seat cost.
A cinema representative said that the father “became loud and abusive and demanded a refund including for part consumed food”.
The cinema screening had to be halted as the family continued to become loud and abusive and the other cinema goers were brought to another screen while staff phoned for the gardai.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has been critical of the case, which was dismissed in court, saying that it was “vexatious and without any merit whatsoever”.
