Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 17 July 2025
Committee on Children and Equality
General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed)
2:00 am
Mr. Christopher Bowes:
The time to look at this issue with the WRC is now. Ms Walsh mentioned the two new EU directives on equality bodies. There is now a sort of year deadline by which those need to be transposed into Irish law and Ms Walsh is completely correct that this review and this legislation need to be looked at in tandem, so not just the individual complaint process but the overarching piece.
On this issue of the powers of the WRC, in our submission we have some very practical suggestions as to how effect could be given to those directives both in terms of IHREC and the WRC. It is not just a question of resources but powers and functions as well. Those have to be looked at as a matter of EU law, so the time to do that is now.
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