Northern Ireland’s equality legislation vs European human rights laws

In 2015, Ashers bakery was found to have discriminated against a customer on the grounds of sexual orientation and political opinion.

The complicated so-called ‘gay cake’ case seemed to be nearing its conclusion, when the last-minute postponement of the hearing extended the appeal issues.

The Attorney General then intervened into the case claiming there was a potential conflict between Northern Ireland’s equality legislation and European human rights laws and that the case raised constitutional issues arising from the devolution arrangements in Northern Ireland.

Further to this intervention, a special hearing will now take place on Wednesday, 3rd March 2016, and the appeal itself is re-listed to start on 9th May 2016.

News 5 Feb, 2016