Vol. 542 No. 3
164 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform whether his attention has been drawn to any abuses of the Equal Status Act whereby publicans are having to deal with a deliberate scam to be awarded monetary compensation for not serving a person; and if he will make a statement on the matter [24409/01]
I assume the Deputy is referring to claims of discrimination made under the Equal Status Act, 2000, by customers of public houses who may have been refused service. The Deputy will appreciate that I have no function in relation to the determination of individual claims of alleged discrimination lodged either under that Act or the Employment Equality Act, 1998.
Under the equality legislation, there are two independent bodies with statutory roles, the Equality Authority and the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations. The Equality Authority, which has the role of working towards the elimination of discrimination, provides information and advice to any person who feels he or she has been discriminated against on one or other of the nine grounds specified in the equality legislation, whether in an employment or non-employment area. Where a complaint of discrimination is lodged, the Director of Equality Investigations has the power under the Act to investigate and decide such a case. It is also open to the director to refer the matter for mediation.
A decision in an individual case is a matter for the director to determine, or refer for mediation, having heard both sides of the case, having weighed up the evidence and having assessed if one or other of the permitted exemptions in the Act might apply. It would be inappropriate for me to comment either generally or on any particular case that might come before the director. However, section 22 of the Equal Status Act allows dismissal by the Director of Equality Investigations of a claim of alleged discrimination at any stage of the investigation, if the claim is made in bad faith or is frivolous or vexatious or relates to trivial matter.
