A YOUNG girl has taken an Irish dancing body to court after it barred her from participating in a world championship qualifier next month.
Ella McCarthy, 12, has launched High Court Proceedings against An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG), the historic organisation which regulates and runs competitive Irish dancing in Ireland and through its branches around the world.
The schoolgirl, who is ranked among the top 10 Irish dancers in the world, has been suspended from competing in Irish dancing for six months as she recently changed dancing teachers, the Irish Independent reports.
Yesterday the High Court heard that the youngster, of Kranlee House in Burnetts Lane, Horton Heath, Southampton, was forced to leave her dancing school in July and is now unable to take part in a world championship qualifier next month.
She is seeking orders through the court to stop that happening – hoping to secure an injunction restraining the CLRG from preventing her from competing in the Irish Dancing World Championships qualifying round in November.
Her counsel Gerard Meehan told the court the proceedings, which she has brought through her mother, have been brought as "a last resort".
He explained that Ella and her sister had been expelled from the dancing school they had been attending in London due to a disagreement between their mother and the head of the school.
The girls were subsequently registered as being students of their mother.
Mr Meehan added that under CLRG rules a pupil who moves from one registered teacher to another cannot enter in any official competition until a period of six months has elapsed.
The body does allow for a new teacher to apply to them for an exemption for extreme circumstances, however CLRG’s lawyers claim the organisation felt Ella did not meet the exemption requirement and would have to undergo the “six month restyling period”.
If upheld, the suspension means Ella will not be able to take part in the Southern England regional qualifier next month.
The case, which came up before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan yesterday, is back in court today.
