Irish Race Discrimination Cases Double

The number of people who claim they have been victims of racial discrimination in the workplace has doubled, according to statistics released today by the Equality Tribunal.

The figures also show there was a big increase in the number of people who went to the tribunal believing they had been subjected to discrimination because of their race or disability in the first six months of this year, compared to last year.

So far this year, 314 people have brought cases to the Equality Tribunal claiming they were discriminated in their workplace.

The bulk of those, 143, claimed they have been singled out because of their race, which is more than twice the number who brought claims in the same period last year.

The number of people claiming disability discrimination in the workplace has also more than doubled with 49 people taking cases.

There was, however, a slight decrease in those claiming they had been discriminated because of their gender or age.

There was also a marked increase in the number of people taking claims under the Equal Status Act on disability grounds.

Fall in age & Traveller-related cases

The Equality Tribunal, an independent, quasi-judicial body with legally binding rulings, publishes its 2006 Annual Report today.

It shows that almost half of a total of more than 7,000 claims brought were successful and the average award increased last year to just over €10,000.

There was a 78% rise in work discrimination complaints on the grounds of race.

The Equality Tribunal says this is linked to the increase in immigrant workers here.

The report also shows a 77% drop in the number of age discrimination cases.

The number of complaints made by members of the Travelling community also dropped – by 42%.

And more than half of the 200 cases referred to the tribunal’s mediation service were resolved before going down the route of a full scale investigation.