In a recommendation dated 8 February 1996, Equality Officer Gerardine Coyle found that seven porters at St. Mary’s Hospital were not entitled to the same pay as three female telephonists. The porters — Liam Ennis, Frederick Jervis, Kevin King, Joseph Morris, David O’Hara, Frank O’Neill and Thomas Whelahan — brought their claim through SIPTU. The comparators were Mary Dunne, Peg McGrath and Patsy O’Brien. The claim concerned the porters’ night-time switchboard duties and the telephonists’ daytime work. Coyle found that the jobs were not like work under sections 3(a) and 3(b) of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974, because their work differed in nature. Under section 3(c), she found that the telephonists’ work was higher in overall value: they had greater skill, mental effort and responsibility, while the porters had greater physical effort and more demanding working conditions.