A yoga student who found himself banned for life from his teacher’s studio after an alleged “outburst” about his opposition to Christmas last year has accused her of discriminating against him on religious grounds.
In her evidence, however, the yoga teacher told a tribunal that the religious element “didn’t factor” in her decision and that banning the man was her “right as a business owner” due to his allegedly aggressive behaviour.
Enniscrone man Peter McKeon is pursuing a complaint under the Equal Status Act 2000 against his former yoga teacher, Niamh Glackin, trading as Roots Wellness in Ballina, Co Mayo, over his lifetime ban from her studio.
Mr McKeon told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday that, having taken up yoga for health reasons some years earlier in Dublin, he enrolled as a student at Ms Glackin’s studio in September 2024 and attended around twice a week until the incident on December 16th.
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Giving evidence, Mr McKeon said while he was getting ready for class on the day in question there was “chatter” in the studio that he wasn’t involved with, until Ms Glackin asked him: “Are you all set for Christmas?”
“I said: ‘No, I don’t believe in that rubbish. Look at it,’ I says, ‘celebrating a religious cult which has its origins based on the rape of a child – that’s absolutely bonkers; no, I don’t have anything to do with any of the Church stuff,” he said.
“Niamh says: ‘Oh,’ she says, ‘well you have to agree with the moral code for the Church.’ I says: ‘That’s junk, Niamh. Look at the moral code, look at the child abuse, the paedophilia; Tuam and the hundreds of babies’,” Mr McKeon continued.
“She says: ‘Right, well, we’ll just get on with our yoga,” he said.
After the session ended, Ms Glackin wrote to him, stating: “I feel the studio is not the right environment for you at this time,” and after further correspondence, the yoga teacher confirmed on January 26th last that it was a “lifetime ban”, Mr McKeon told the hearing.
Adjudication officer Brian Dolan asked Mr McKeon why he thought it amounted to religious discrimination. The complainant said Christmas was “a religious festival” that “appalled” him.
“We know Mary was a child mother and impregnating her at that age would be rape, and it doesn’t sit well with me at all in light of the sexual abuse that’s gone on,” he said.
His case was that in response to his expression of this belief, Ms Glackin had withdrawn her services.
Human resources consultant John Keenan, appearing for Ms Glackin, put it to Mr McKeon in cross-examination that it was “an extreme view” to suggest Christmas was “about the rape of a child”.
“It’s just an analysis. I spent a number of years in a seminary. I learned one thing there – philosophy: get to the bottom of your beliefs,” he said.
Ms Glackin denied asking Mr McKeon about his Christmas plans or saying anything about the Catholic Church’s “moral code” to Mr McKeon when she gave evidence.
“As I was setting up the music and incense, my recollection is just of an outburst. Peter … began shouting and accosting everyone in the room about the raping of children and paedophilia,” she said.
“I was in shock. It was a yoga studio. Stuff like this doesn’t really happen,” she said. “Most people come here to bring a little bit of calm into their lives. I was quite shocked; I’ve been operating for three years and I’ve never had any reason to ask anyone to leave.”
Ms Glackin added: “I felt incredibly nervous and uneasy. I suppose after chatting at the end of the class, chatting with the people who stayed behind, they were very uneasy, very worried.” She said Mr McKeon had been “aggressive” and “very, very irritated and riled up”.
“The religious element didn’t factor into my decision at all. It was the aggressive behaviour, the use of the words ‘rape’ and ‘paedophilia’ in a yoga class; they just don’t go there,” she said.
The adjudicator, Mr Dolan, has now completed hearing the complaint and told the parties that he would give his decision in writing in due course.
