The head of the Equality Tribunal which investigates discrimination claims has insisted that the body is not feeding a compensation culture by making monetary awards.
Ms Melanie Pine said only 68 people were awarded compensation by the tribunal last year, with an average pay-out of €1,000. These awards come amid a 17 per cent increase in the tribunal's work last year, compared to 2001.
Ms Pine said the tribunal's workload has increased even more significantly this year, with the same number of employment-related complaints received in the year to date as in the whole of last year. These include a tripling of claims alleging discrimination in employment on race grounds and a 25 per cent increase of claims on gender grounds.
Ms Pine said she thought this increase was due to growing awareness of the work of the tribunal, which is currently in its fourth year.
She was speaking at the publication yesterday of the tribunal's annual report, which shows that it received 1,298 complaints in 2002. A total of 989 of these related to claims of discrimination in the provision of goods and services, and 741 of these complaints were brought by Travellers, with 50 cases alleging discrimination on disability grounds, 29 on age grounds and 26 on the basis of race. Of the 309 complaints alleging discrimination in employment, 78 were on gender grounds, 44 on disability grounds, 43 based on race and 39 on age. About one-third of complaints were upheld by the tribunal last year, decreasing to one in four this year.
The Equality Tribunal, which began work in 2000, is a quasi-judicial body which hears or mediates in claims of discrimination under equality laws, for free. These laws prohibit discrimination on nine grounds: of gender, disability, race, age, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion and membership of the Traveller community. The tribunal's remit covers all aspects of employment and all goods and services available to the public, including accommodation and education.
In 2002, the tribunal issued 193 decisions covering 648 individual claims, up from 223 individual claims in 2001. A total of 179 claims were referred to mediation while 56 claims were resolved through mediation, five times higher than in the previous year.
Ms Pine welcomed the fact that tribunal decisions were proving "generally robust", with most upheld on appeal and no criticism of tribunal procedures from the higher courts.
Rejecting allegations that the tribunal might be encouraging a "compensation culture", she said: "The figures speak for themselves. Only 68 people in the whole of 2002 were awarded compensation under equal status legislation, with amounts as low as €50 and an average of just over €1,000. Indeed, in three upheld cases, no money at all was awarded."
A total of €200,000 was awarded in 2002; the highest pay-out ordered was €5,000 for a settled Traveller woman who was repeatedly refused admission to a nightclub in Co Cork.