Transgender woman awarded €5,000 for being told to close AIB bank account
The Equality Tribunal has awarded a transgender woman €5,000 compensation after it ruled she had been discriminated against by AIB.
In October 2010, Deirdre O'Byrne contacted her bank to inform them that she had changed her name by deed poll, and would henceforth at all times use the name Deirdre Katherine O'Byrne.
AIB agreed to change her name and gender on her credit card, but told her she would have to close down her cashsave account as she had altered her entire legal identity.
Ms O'Byrne said the worst thing about her three-year battle with the bank was that they still use her birth name when addressing her in correspondence.
She said a letter was sent to an address she had just moved out of using her birth name, which could have revealed her transgender status to her landlady without her consent.
The equality tribunal found she had been discriminated against on gender grounds, and have ordered the bank to review their policies in relation to people who change their name.
