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A County Down grammar school's admissions criteria indirectly discriminated against children with origins outside Northern Ireland, a High Court judge has ruled.

The judge held that a condition giving priority to applicants with a father who attended Abbey Christian Brothers in Newry was unlawful.

The verdict could now clear the way for a son of migrant workers to enrol.

The boy at the centre of the case was denied entry to the school.

The 11-year-old applied for a position in Year 8 at Abbey Christian Brothers, but with the school oversubscribed and academic selection suspended due to the pandemic, he missed out on a place in its September 2021 intake.

Lawyers representing the boy challenged an admissions policy which they argued advantaged prospective pupils with a family connection to the school.

The main focus was on a criterion giving preference to those whose father or guardian attended.

At the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday, Mr Justice Scoffield said: "Even assuming that the maintenance of family links is part of the preservation of the school's ethos which is a pressing need for the school, the discriminatory effect of [the] criterion on racial grounds is not justified in pursuit of that end."

'Unjustified disadvantage'

Defending the claim, the school's board of governors contended that Department of Education guidance was properly considered and taken into account.

Allegations of any direct or indirect discrimination were denied.

Lawyers for the school emphasised it had no issue with the boy who took the case, while also stressing the need to preserve a core element of its ethos and character.

In his judgment, the judge made the comparison between a child seeking to attend the school whose origins were in Northern Ireland, and one with origins elsewhere.

Granting a declaration, the judge stated: "The adoption and use of criterion (iv) in the respondent's admissions criteria for admission to Year 8 in the 2021/22 academic year was unlawful, void and of no force or effect.

"Accordingly, as a matter of law, criterion (iv) should not have been applied in the course of consideration of the applicant's application for admission to the Abbey Grammar School.

"I would anticipate the relief which has been granted by this court to lead ultimately and hopefully shortly... to the applicant being admitted as a pupil of the Abbey.

"In any event, I wish the applicant well in his continued education."