Shelbourne fined £4,800 for manager's racist jibes

One of Ireland's best-known hotels, the Shelbourne in Dublin, has been ordered to pay a former employee e7,000 (£4,800) compensation, following racist jibes by a manager that led to her resigning.

Tanya Persaud, an Australian national whose father is of Afro-Caribbean origin, told an Irish Equality Tribunal that the manager had said a West Indian member of staff was "as useless as an African". He then suggested that people from the West Indies were lazy.

Persaud, who had worked as his personal assistant, alleged that when she complained about the remarks she was subjected to increasing harassment and eventually resigned. A barrister for the hotel argued that "West Indies" was a geographic term, not a specific nationality, and that the manager - referred to only as Mr M - was not being racist.

But the tribunal rejected these claims and directed that in addition to the apology and compensation, the Shelbourne provide its staff with training on equality legislation.