Call for carers to be explicitly protected in equality legislation

Sinéad Gibney

In a submission to the government’s review of equality laws, the rights body said the current “family status” ground set out in law does not capture and protect the full range of caring responsibilities present in modern Irish society.

The submission makes a number of recommendations, including calls for independent reviews of the procedures and practices of the Workplace Relations Commission, which it says are posing “unnecessary barriers” for prospective complaints.

It also calls for an expansion of the civil legal aid scheme to include complaints brought to the WRC under equality legislation, and argues that trade union and NGOs should be allowed to take representative actions on behalf of named complainants as well as in their own name in cases of alleged discrimination.

Chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney said: “The next generation of equality legislation needs to combat all emerging and cumulative forms of discrimination, comply with European and international legal frameworks, ensure awareness of rights, mandate disaggregated data, and address the existing procedural and accessibility issues impacting on access to justice.

“This review of Ireland’s equality law and framework is a moment of opportunity for the State to fully protect and advance equality. It must be comprehensively applied and not squandered.

“Discrimination is something that any of us can experience whether because of our age, gender, disability or a range of other factors. We are making clear to government that our laws need to be tightened up and modernised if they are to provide proper protection for us all.”