In a key discrimination case published last month concerning access to accommodation for the disabled, the tribunal found that Mariyam Cementwala had been discriminated against by a Ms Colbert, who owned the flat in Galway with her son. She had told Cementwala to leave the flat 24 hours after accepting her deposit and one month's rent in advance.

However, in ordering Colbert to pay Cementwala 500, the Equality Officer said that she was taking into account a number of issues including "the publication of details of the case on the internet with its depiction as a case of clear discrimination before the case had even come to hearing. . .

and the complainant's determination to treat this as a test case".

Cementwala has been involved in several human rights research projects around the world. Eighty per cent blind and a long-term user of a cane, she had told Colbert that she would have no problems with the steel stairs entrance to the apartment, and offered to sign a waiver to that effect. According to the tribunal report, Colbert stayed and helped Cementwala make up the bed.

However, when she returned the next day to finalise arrangements, Cementwala was told that Colbert no longer wanted to rent the apartment to her because of the safety issues and that she [Colbert] had been reminded of this by the housing management committee of the apartment complex. Cementwala was told she had to be out "the next day".

Cementwala was very upset and called up the professor who was helping with her research, Professor Quinn, and a PhD student, Padraig Kenna, who specialised in housing law.

But feeling under pressure from Colbert and knowing that another suitable apartment that had come up would be let quickly, Cementwala decided to leave. She told the tribunal that she didn't want to further upset those who had helped her and did not want Colbert to go to the university as she claimed she had threatened to do.

Cementwala also told the tribunal hearing that she didn't want Colbert to come and live with her in the flat as had been suggested, or to live "without heat and water" as she claimed had been intimated to her.

While acknowledging that Colbert may have had genuine concerns for Cementwala's safety, the tribunal ruled that Colbert had discriminated against Cementwala on disability grounds.