Discrimination against people on the grounds of their race remains the largest issue among the casefiles of the Equality Authority, according to its annual report, published today.
The report revealed that 31.9 per cent of cases taken by the Equality Authority related to race. Gender was second with 23.8 per cent, Disability third with 16.2 per cent and age fourth 11.4 per cent.
The report showed that in 2004 there were 889 case files - 370 under the Employment Equality Act 1998, 509 under the Equal Status Act 2000 and 10 under the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003.
This marked a drop of 34 per cent in the number of case files, but the authority put this down to a decision to reduce its backlog of case files.
Speaking at the report's publication, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said: "When I launched the annual report of the Equality Tribunal four weeks ago, it showed a 44 per cent increase in employment equality cases taken on the 'race' ground. Likewise, the highest proportion of the Equality Authority's employment casefiles in 2004 were related to the race ground for the second successive year.
"Our economic growth is increasingly reliant on diverse sources of labour supply, and our ability to attract and retain migrant workers would be damaged by discriminatory practices," the Minister added.
