Ryanair has been told to pay £8,000 compensation and ordered to publish an advertisement stating it does not discriminate in employment, following a finding that it published an ageist advertisement.
The judgment by an equality officer is the first under the 1998 Act, which outlaws discrimination on grounds of age and eight other grounds. It is also the first judgment in Europe against age discrimination under equality legislation.
The case was taken by the Equality Authority after Ryanair advertised for a director of regulatory affairs in The Irish Times in February 2000. It said: "We need a young and dynamic professional" and "the ideal candidate will be young and dynamic".
The authority wrote to Ryanair and to The Irish Times, saying it considered the advertisement to be in breach of the 1998 Employment Equality Act. This extended protection against job bias from grounds of sex and marital status to include age, race, religion, membership of the Travelling community, sexual orientation, disability, and family status.
In its response, Ryanair denied any breach of the Act, and said the advertisement meant young in spirit.
The Irish Times responded, enclosing a letter from its advertising department to Ryanair, in which it agreed with the Equality Authority that the advertisement was illegal, and also enclosing a memo to all advertising staff warning that advertisements should not contain the words "young" or "old".
Last May the case was referred to the director of equality investigations, Ms Melanie Pine, who delegated it to an equality officer in her office.
Ryanair claimed it was singled out; that The Irish Times was not being pursued; and similar advertisements had been published without any complaint.
The authority said The Irish Times had taken remedial action, and that in every other instance the employer had published an amended advertisement at its own expense. It also said all the applicants for the Ryanair position were under 40, indicating that older people felt excluded by the advertisement.
The word "young" was found to clearly indicate an intention to exclude applicants who were "not young".
The maximum fine for a non-employee taking a case under the Act is £10,000, and Ryanair was ordered to pay £8,000 to the Equality Authority, which is passing the money on to an organisation fighting ageism.
Ryanair has also been ordered to review its equal opportunities policies, equality proofing of recruitment, and to publish a statement of equal size and prominence as the offending advertisement, making a clear commitment to equal opportunities policies.
Last night Ryanair insisted it was an equal opportunities employer. In a statement the company said: "We interviewed candidates in their 20s and 30s for the position and the successful candidate, who was in the mid-30s, was appointed solely on merit."
The statement concluded: "It [the decision] speaks volumes about the Equality Authority who chose to ignore the 1998 Act and not take action against The Irish Times who published the offending advertisement and who continue to publish similar advertisements from other organisations since that date."