A High Court action taken by a 12-year-old Irish dancer to allow her to participate in a world championship qualifier next month, has been adjourned to allow her case to be considered by the body that regulates competitive Irish step dancing.
Ella McCarthy, who is based in London, and is one of the top ten Irish dancers in the world, had taken the proceedings against An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha.
The court heard yesterday that through no fault of her own, Ella, from Southampton in the UK had been suspended from competition for six months because she had to change dancing teachers.
This would prevent her from competing in a qualifying round of the Irish Dancing World Championships next month.
The court heard Ella and her sister were "expelled" from their dancing school in July due to differences between Ella's mother and the head of the school. The rules of the CLRG state that a pupil who moves from one teacher to another cannot enter in any official competition until six months has elapsed.
Yesterday, Ella's barrister, Gerard Meehan, told the court the proceedings had been brought as a last resort after the governing body had effectively ignored her correspondence.
He said under the rules, a new teacher can apply for an exemption from the six months rule, where "extreme circumstances" indicate that such an exemption should be granted. The court heard that the school did not express it had any difficulty with Ella or her sister.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan said it was "most unfortunate" that a case involving a 12-year-old world champion Irish dancer had ended up in the High Court.
He said what had happened had nothing to do with the child but arose from a complete breakdown of trust between the teacher and Ella's mother, Kirsty Blair-McCarthy.
He gave both sides time to discuss the matter.
When the case came back to court, Mr Justice Gilligan was told it could be adjourned until 7 November to allow a sub-committee of the CLRG to discuss the matter.
Senior Counsel Peter Bland said the sub-committee could decide to grant an exemption to Ella and there would be no further need for the court proceedings.
