A Circuit Court hearing due to be heard in Clonmel in the not too distant future will be closely monitored by every secondary school in the country. It has emerged that the CBS High School in Clonmel is to appeal to the Court against a decision by the Equality Tribunal that its enrolment policy had put members of the Travelling Community at a disadvantage.

The Equality Tribunal ruling came following a case taken by Mary Stokes on behalf of her son, John. He applied to become a student at the school in 2009 but was denied a place. He had met two of the three enrolment criteria, having attended a local feeder school and being Roman Catholic. But he fell down on the third criteria that he should have an older brother or father who had previously been a student at the school.