Age discrimination is now the third most common type of discriminatory case taken against employers in Ireland, corporate law firm A&L Goodbody has found.

This type of discrimination accounts for more than 10 per cent of all cases taken under Irish equality law, according to Kathryn Matthews, a member of A&L's employment law group. The group advises businesses and other organisations in every sector on employment relations.

"In most cases, the complainant is an older person claiming that they have been treated less favourably than a younger colleague," Matthews said, in a recent presentation to the Engineering Employers' Federation's (EEF) employment policy committee at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

The event, held in Dublin, was aimed at advising British companies about the Irish experience of age-related discrimination. While regulations prohibiting this type of discrimination has been in force in the Republic for about eight years, they only come into effect in the UK this October.

Ireland's Equality Tribunal takes the view that employers can discriminate without being aware of it because of inbuilt and unrecognised prejudice within the organisation, Matthews noted. However, employers must adopt transparent and consistent recruitment and promotion processes to prevent age discrimination, and it is fundamental that they avoid stereotyping job candidates or existing employees on the grounds of their age, she said.