The Government must take action to make discrimination on the grounds of socio-economic status illegal before the next election, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said.
In a policy document to be published this week, the organisation says governments have given repeated commitments to examine the issue and hinted at possible actions but, despite more than 20 years of debate, no meaningful measures have been introduced.
Discrimination is prohibited under existing legislation on nine grounds, including age, disability, race and gender, but the commission says adding socio-economic status to the list would “not only strengthen the effectiveness of the Equality Acts, but constitute a crucial shift in the equality landscape in Ireland”.
The role of the commission, itself established by legislation a decade ago, includes the monitoring of the Irish legislative landscape for issues relating to human rights and equality.
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Announcing a public consultation on the equality legislation three years ago, Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman said it would “include the existing programme for government commitments on the introduction of a socio-economic ground”.
Responding to a Dáil question from Independent TD Catherine Connolly in February, Mr O’Gorman said he expected the legislation which the review was intended to feed into would be “brought forward in the coming months”.
Setting out its case for including a probitition on discrimination based on socio-economic status in that legislation, IHREC argues “poverty and social exclusion create barriers to equal opportunities”.
“Such a ground would recognise that those with a disadvantaged socio-economic status do face discrimination on this basis and are, therefore, often excluded from both services and employment which, in turn, exacerbates income and wealth inequalities,” it said. “The finalisation of this review must be prioritised within the lifetime of the current Government.”
It acknowledges there is no obligation on the Government to act but says a variety of treaties and conventions Ireland has signed up to highlight the need to counter such discrimination and that Irish law has been left behind somewhat by developments internationally. It points to the growing number of EU and other countries that recognise the issue in equality legislation.
“Irish equality legislation has ‘lost its teeth’ and persons are using both the EU equal treatment and non-discrimination directive and case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union to bring, and/or defend cases,” it argues.
Commenting on the issue, IHREC director Deirdre Malone said “unlike other grounds of discrimination, poverty is often seen as a sort of ‘moral failure’, rather than a structural disadvantage. As we face housing and cost-of-living crises, and other challenges, the State has a vital opportunity to ensure that Ireland’s future is built on a firm foundation of commitment to human rights and equality. With less than a year left in the lifetime of this Government, we can’t miss this opportunity to take action.”
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