In what can only be described as racism against the Irish community, a UK based holiday park employee has made an astonishing allegation.
According to the Metro, a whistleblower has revealed that UK based Pontins Holiday Parks was operating a black list of Irish surnames to bar people from entering their parks.
The list included common Irish names like Boyle, Delaney, Doherty, Gallagher, Murphy and O’Brien.
The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) received a complaint from a Pontins employee in February. The employee alleged the company had a booking policy to deliberately exclude gypsies and travellers on the basis of surnames and accents.
The whistleblower said; “You were told from day one that you had to listen out for an Irish accent and find out as much as possible about a person such as their address and whereabouts.”
“So if a person had an Irish accent and was calling from Ireland, then strangely that was ok.”
“But if it was an Irish accent and the postcode was for a caravan site or an industrial estate in Britain, then that was a big red flashing light.”
Pontins Call centre employees were told to refuse or cancel any bookings that were made by people on the ‘unwelcome’ list, according to the EHRC.
A spokesperson for the company said: “Britannia Jinky Jersey Limited has agreed to work together with the EHRC to further enhance its staff training and procedures in order to further promote equality throughout its business.”
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.