Mr. Niall Crowley:

It is not clear at all to me how it can be determined if a person is in a religion or not. We have had a lot of discussion about this in Ireland with regard to the census and whether a person is Catholic or not. I do not think it can be determined if a person is a Traveller or not a Traveller. I cannot think of a proof. Likewise, I do not think it can be determined with certainty whether a person is a member of an ethnic group. At what point do I stop being a member of an ethnic group if I have parents from two ethnic groups or grandparents from four ethnic groups? These are all uncertain. The legislation is set up to deal with uncertainty. This is why employers come back and state a decision was not based on an irrelevant characteristic but on the basis of A, B and C and the candidate got it with X, Y and Z and that is it. Where they cannot prove this they get into trouble, because then irrelevant characteristics are at play.