Equality body sees 4,600 complaints

The largest number of complaints received by the Equality Authority last year were made on the grounds of disability, according to its annual report.

Out of 4,640 complaints made to the authority under the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts, almost 650 were made on the grounds of disability. These included complaints related to the provision of education, health services and government departments.

Discrimination on the basis of age was also high, with a total of 558 complaints made under both pieces of legislation and gender was the basis for 434 of the complaints.

Some 372 complaints were made on the basis of race, up from 307 last year.

People complained of general harassment, provision of services, education and accommodation under the Equal Status Acts and access to employment, working conditions, dismissal and bullying under the Employment Equality Acts.

Almost 10,500 people contacted the authority's public information centre with queries on equality and family leave legislation, with over 4,000 queries under the Maternity Protection Acts, over 1,500 on the Parental Leave acts and 97 on the Adoptive Leave Acts.

Chairwoman of the Equality Authority, Angela Kerins, said the organisation's ambitions for an Ireland of equality for all were not in any way diminished by the "challenging times".

She said it made sense for society to take active measures to ensure economic downturn did not create any downturn in values or ambitions for equality.

The organisation, which was given a 45 per cent cut in its budget last year, was working "smart", Ms Kerins said.

"2008 was a very busy and challenging time for the Equality Authority; the board's energy, vigour and commitment sustained the organisation's progress and focus in the emerging new context," she said.