Ireland’s primary pieces of equality legislation are the Employment Equality Acts and Equal Status Acts. The enactment of the Equal Status Act 2000 just over 20 years ago represented the fulfilment of a commitment contained in the Good Friday Agreement. The Equality Acts prohibit discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment in employment, goods and services, accommodation and education on nine grounds, and impose requirements to provide reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities.
Equality and non-discrimination law is a priority area for FLAC in its policy and law reform work and in its public interest casework as an Independent Law Centre. FLAC’s Independent Law Centre operates a number of dedicated legal services: the Roma Legal Clinic, Traveller Legal Service and LGBTQI Legal Clinic. Discrimination and equality matters consistently constitute one of the largest categories of total casefiles dealt with by FLAC and frequently arise in each of its dedicated legal services. The outcomes of FLAC casework in this area reflect how individuals who have experienced discrimination may effectively seek redress under the Equality Acts, including:
- A case on behalf of a man who was asked to leave the organic farm where he was volunteering and subjected to humiliating treatment after he disclosed his HIV status. The WRC (the tribunal which deals with most of such complaints in the first instance) ordered the farm to pay €8,000 in compensation stating that the “aggravating factors” in the case required that redress be on the higher end of the scale.
- Cases on behalf of a family wherein the WRC found that a hotel discriminated against FLAC’s clients on the basis of their membership of the Traveller community and because they were in receipt of a housing assistance payment. These were the first cases where a hotel’s refusal to provide emergency accommodation has been found to constitute discrimination on the “housing assistance payment” ground. The WRC awarded the family a total of €22,000 in compensation.
- A case on behalf of a woman of Romani heritage against the Irish police taken after an Immigration Officer at Dublin Airport made disparaging remarks to her about the Roma and Traveller community. The case settled before the Circuit Court after the police issued an apology and agreed to make a substantial charitable donation to Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre.
- A case on behalf of a woman who is deaf against a bank which refused to allow her to engage with their telephone service via a sign language interpreter. This was the first case where a failure to engage with a deaf person communicating through an Irish Sign Language interpreter has been found to represent a breach of the Equal Status Acts. The WRC awarded FLAC’s client €8,500 in compensation.
Issues with the Equality Acts
However, FLAC’s experience, particularly in providing legal services to marginalised groups, gives rise to serious concerns as to the effectiveness of Irish equality law. These concerns include:
- The exceptions to the legislation which exempt discriminatory legislation, the State and public bodies (including the police and prison service) from the prohibition of discrimination. These exceptions have been subject to increasingly broad interpretations by the Courts and mean that scope of the Equality Acts is extremely limited in areas which have a significant impact on lives and rights such as public housing, social security, and asylum and immigration.
- The reasonable accommodation provisions of the Equal Status Acts do not apply to service providers where the accommodation would incur more than a “nominal cost” and fall below the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- The limited remedies available under the legislation including strict compensation limits, which apply regardless of the severity of the discrimination, harassment or sexual harassment complained of.
- The grounds protected under the legislation do not reflect the experience of discrimination in 2024. There is no protection against discrimination on the basis of socio-economic status or criminal convictions. The existing gender ground does not explicitly or adequately cover trans, non-binary and intersex people, and some carers and families are excluded from the existing civil and family status grounds.
Questions have arisen as to the compliance of Ireland’s equality code with the requirements of EU law and regional and international human rights instruments. There has also been a significant decline in the number of discrimination complaints to the WRC in recent years, despite a rise in reported incidents of discrimination by other metrics.
The Review of the Equality Acts
The Programme for Government commits to “examine… the introduction of a new ground of discrimination, based on socio-economic disadvantaged status to the Employment Equality and Equal Status Acts”. It also commits to “amend the gender ground in equality legislation, to ensure that someone discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity is able to avail of this legislation”.
FLAC was concerned that these commitments, while welcome, would not of themselves address the myriad and serious deficiencies in the Equality Acts and, in July 2021, organised a seminar series (in association with the Law School, Trinity College Dublin) to highlight the complex range of issues which any reform of the legislation must address. The four seminars heard from leading national and international academics, practitioners, activists and policy-makers. The seminars specifically examined the effectiveness and limitations of the legislation, the potential for a socio-economic ground, Ireland’s equality architecture (including IHREC and the WRC) and how the legislation may respond to new and emerging forms of discrimination (including intersectional discrimination and systemic and structural forms of discrimination).
In delivering the Seminar Series Closing Address, Roderic O’Gorman TD, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, announced the first comprehensive Review of the Equality Acts. FLAC welcomed the fact that the scope of the Review is significantly broader than the matters committed to in the Programme for Government and specifically reflected the issues raised by FLAC throughout the seminar series.
FLAC & the Review
FLAC sees the Review as a significant opportunity to build on the advances Irish society has made in terms of recognition and diversity in all its forms. It is an opportunity to restore Ireland’s place as a leader in terms of equality, at a time when the right to equality is under considerable pressure across Europe and globally, including in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. FLAC believes the Review must bring about amendments to the Equality Acts which address the specific issues outlined above and which also ensure that the legislation is clear, accessible and fully compliant with EU and international law, and that the equality framework is capable of identifying and responding to new and emerging forms of discrimination (including increased economic inequality and discrimination in the digital sphere).
FLAC has fully engaged with the review process to date. In November 2021, FLAC and IHREC launched Equality ACTion, a joint project aiming to strengthen the engagement of civil society with the review of the equality legislation. The project’s launch event, which provided information on the Review, the Equality Acts, as well as the key issues under Review, was attended by over 100 representatives of civil society organisations. Over eighty representatives of civil society organisations attended five Equality ACTion thematic roundtables (which brought together relevant civil society organisations with legal experts to support civil society in making submissions to the Review). These roundtables were held on topics such as the introduction of a socio-economic status ground, key issues for people with disabilities, key issues for members of the Traveller Community, and combatting racism through the Equality Acts. In addition, FLAC published a comprehensive guide to making a submission to the Review, the key issues under Review, and FLAC’s recommendations in relation to those key issues.
In December 2021, FLAC made a Submission to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth’s consultation on the Review of the Equality Acts (publication and launch forthcoming). FLAC believes that its comprehensive submission provides a blueprint for next generation equality framework and infrastructure which brings about transformative change.
FLAC is a member of IHREC’s Future of Equality Legislation Advisory Committee – an expert group to advise IHREC on its engagement with the Review process and the equality legislation generally.
