Racism cases up by 76%, tribunal report reveals

The Equality Tribunal’s annual report revealed how 146 race case referrals accounted for a third of its workload in 2006.

Racism was also cited as the primary reason for complaints in twice as many employment cases than any other category, including gender, age and disability. The largest group taking cases were Eastern European workers in the building industry.

Director of the tribunal Melanie Pine said racism claims were succeeding in half of all rulings. “We do not publish the outcomes of each individual category but in cases of racism we are finding grounds for discrimination in about 50% of cases,” she said.

Ms Pine revealed how in recent years greater awareness, coupled with growing rates of immigration, had been a significant catalyst for the rise in racism cases. This trend is supported by the latest figures compiled by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. In the first half of this year it received 52 reports of racist incidents, an increase of 30% on the previous six months. The reports cover everything from social discrimination to physical assaults.

Committee director Philip Watt said racism was becoming more prevalent. “To some extent you would expect there to be some increase in the number of cases because of the increase in the population. However, the rate of increase is significantly more than the population changes would allow. This increase has been so dramatic over the past year that it is a worry,” he said.

Since 2001, race has streaked ahead of all other categories of complaint dealt with by the Equality Tribunal. It is most common in workplace disputes dealt with under the Employment Equality Acts. There has not been any noticeable rise in the number of race-related grievances under the Equal Status legislation, which covers discrimination in how businesses and services deal with the public.

Irish Examiner