A backlog of more than 1,700 cases has developed at the Equality Tribunal following a significant increase in employment equality cases, the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Jimmy Deenihan has been told.
The average waiting time for the completion of an employment equality case here has risen to three years, with cases referred to the tribunal in 2008 only being heard now.
Departmental briefing material prepared for Mr Deenihan on his appointment shows that employment equality cases now account for 84 per cent of referrals and that at the beginning of this year there were a total of 1,745 cases on hand at the tribunal.
The brief says initiatives are being taken to reduce the backlog, with the number of closed cases set to rise to 1,200 this year. The number of new referrals is about 900 per year.
This level of throughput, maintained to end 2013, would see the current backlog reduce to 845 by the end of 2013, the briefing material says.
“By end 2013...assuming no significant change in the rate of referrals, the tribunal aims to have reduced the average time from receipt to closing a case to 12 months.”
Mr Deenihan has also been told the department’s Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development (Rapid) programme faces significant challenges.
The brief says this is because funding for its schemes has fallen by more than two thirds since 2009 - from €9 million to €2.5 million this year.
Rapid is a Government initiative which targets the 51 most disadvantaged urban areas and provincial towns in the State.
It is designed to increase the investment made by Government departments and state agencies in the 51 communities.
The brief says that “in order to ensure the continued relevance of Rapid consideration might be given to changing the policy direction of the programme with a greater focus, inter alia, on the co-ordination and local consultation roles of the programme, and enhancing the opportunities for input by residents in disadvantaged areas.”
The brief says that conflict in the Traveller community is “complex” and “affecting the delivery of all services” to members of the community.
“The ultimate aim, in partnership with all the key players, is to formulate a strategic approach in an attempt to prevent possible disputes escalating in the first place,” it says.
