Complaints about discrimination in employment were up last year, while those relating to services were down, according to the annual report of the Equality Tribunal.
Employment equality complaints increased by 20 per cent, from 300 in 2002 to 361 last year, while equal status complaints decreased by 28 per cent, from 989 to 717, according to the report.
The Equality Tribunal is the quasi-judicial body set up by equality legislation to hear complaints about discrimination in employment or in the provision of services. There are nine grounds on which discrimination is outlawed: gender, age, disability, race, religion, family status, marital status, sexual orientation and membership of the Travelling community.
Much of last year's increase is accounted for by the fact that complaints about licensed premises were taken from the remit of the Equality Tribunal and given to the District Courts.
Complaints about discrimination by licensed premises and hotels, particularly by members of the Travelling community, made up a large proportion of complaints under the equal status legislation.
However, there was a substantial increase in complaints under this legislation in relation to race, which went up by 65 per cent, from 26 in 2002 to 43 in 2003. Disability complaints increased by 26 per cent, from 50 to 63.
Racial minorities also reported increased discrimination in relation to employment, which almost doubled from 43 in 2002 to 85 last year. Gender-based employment complaints also increased, from 69 to 107, while those relating to age and disability fell.
Just over one-third of complaints were upheld, the director of the Equality Tribunal, Ms Melanie Pine, said at the launch of the report. The largest employment equality award was €40,000 for age discrimination, and the average was just over €13,000. For equal status discrimination, most individual awards fell between €200 and €1,000, with the largest being €2,500.
"There is a constant pattern of discrimination in the workplace," the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, told journalists at the launch. "This shows very clearly that the work of the tribunal is very important. The tribunal's work is upheld generally on appeal in the courts."
Referring to the tribunal's plans for the development of information technology, Mr McDowell said with the planned decentralisation of it and the Equality Authority to Tipperary, this needed to be fast-tracked.
Asked by journalists if the decentralisation would lead to the loss of specialist staff, he said: "No. A lot of people want to move out of Dublin. Those unable to move will find very good work here."
The Minister also congratulated the tribunal on the advances made in its mediation service.
Ms Pine said that the number of cases referred to the mediation service increased by 64 per cent, from 64 in 2002 to 105 in 2003, and the number of cases resolved through mediation also grew, so that they now amounted to 61 per cent of all cases brought.
She said that more than a third of the staff of the tribunal have trained as mediators, one equality officer is a barrister and three more are, at present, studying to become barristers at the King's Inns. A number are pursuing other legal studies.
As well as its annual report, the Equality Tribunal also launched a new, redesigned website yesterday, its strategy statement for 2004-2006 and a customer service charter.