The number of people taking cases alleging discrimination to the Equality Tribunal increased by 17 per cent last year. More than half of all cases were taken by members of the Travelling community.
The number referred under employment equality legislation rose by 19 per cent, while the cases alleging discrimination in the provision of goods and services rose by almost 17 per cent.
Almost 1,000 cases brought to the tribunal concerned allegations of discrimination in the provision of goods and services, while 309 people brought cases alleging discrimination in employment.
Of the cases under the Equal Status Act, which prohibits discrimination on goods and services, 75 per cent were cases brought by members of the Travelling community. This means that more than half of all cases brought to the tribunal, 748 out of 1,307, were brought by members of the Travelling community under the Equal Status Act. The majority of these were against pubs, clubs and nightclubs.
Publicans' organisations have sought changes to the legislation, including removing the adjudication of cases from the Equality Tribunal, alleging abuse of it by members of the Travelling community.
However, organisations representing Travellers and campaigning against discrimination on race grounds have suggested that the number of cases taken supports the view that discrimination against Travellers, especially in relation to entertainment venues, is widespread.
The largest single ground on which discrimination in employment was alleged was gender, with 75 cases. However, this was a drop on the previous year, where almost half of all cases were on the ground of gender.
The numbers alleging discrimination at work on the grounds of race, disability and age all rose significantly between 2001 and 2002, as did the number who alleged discrimination on more than one ground.
While allegations from the Travelling community accounted for the bulk of the Equal Status Act cases, there were also significant increases in cases brought on the grounds of disability, race and family status. There were also a large number of cases taken on multiple grounds.
The tribunal's figures for 2002 showed that the equality officer found in favour of the complainant in only 30 per cent of cases where employment discrimination was alleged. Where the case involved an allegation of discrimination in the provision of goods or services the number of findings in favour of the complainant was 53 per cent. However, in the last quarter of the year this fell to 31 per cent.
The director of the Equality Tribunal, Ms Melanie Pine, said she was pleased with the increase in the number of decisions reached and also in the increasing trend towards mediation.