Ms Doireann Ansbro:

On the one hand, we need to improve how we distinguish between law and guidelines. That means we need to reassess how we use criminal sanctions in the middle of a pandemic. We must ensure that the way we encourage public compliance is to have a focus on communication and targeted supports.

When it comes to particular communities affected by Covid and the restrictions, we have examined the position in a number of different communities, particularly vulnerable ones, in conjunction with Community Foundation for Ireland and will publish a report on the matter next week. There is a specific human rights obligation on the Government to ensure that any general policy does not result in indirect discrimination in respect of particular groups. We are concerned that that assessment was not done at the outset and still has not been done properly. What we have seen is that there has been a disproportionate impact on a number of different groups in society, including women who are in low-paid jobs, who lost their jobs or who have been affected by the care burden and the lack of proper childcare supports. So there are particular people who have been impacted upon in a variety of ways. We also saw a disproportionate impact on people living in congregated settings, namely, those living in direct provision centres and people living on halting sites.

We have seen a number of minority communities potentially impacted in a greater way by the policing approach. Getting proper statistics on this is difficult because we do not have the disaggregated data that we have sought from An Garda Síochána for a very long time on who has been affected most by policing. On foot of reports from individuals and the media, we can see that, potentially, there are concerning patterns in how the Covid regulations have been enforced.

We would say that better supports are needed for vulnerable communities and that there should be with less reliance on criminal sanctions. Also needed is a much better focus on ensuring compliance with guidelines through better communication and supports. There is a need to ensure a very clear distinction between what is law and what will attract a criminal sanction if that law is breached, and what is a guideline, which is a matter of ongoing concern.