Ms Eilis Barry:

Under the directives, the equality mandate has to be strengthened by mid-2026. There are a number of practical steps that could be taken. For example, a lot of people who come to FLAC are not aware that the Workplace Relations Commission is a place that hears claims of discrimination under the Equal Status Act. Changing the name would be a very obvious and easy task to let people know that claims can be heard under the Equal Status Act before the WRC. Before the WRC was established, there was a separate equality tribunal with the job to investigate, hear and decide claims under equality legislation. The WRC could establish within it a specific structure to deal with equality claims and have specially trained equality officers or adjudication officers to deal with it.

With regards to IHREC, its strategic plan does not specifically go into detail about its equality function beyond talking about making sure the legislation is implemented. It has a large staff. It could set up a legal section that would focus on assisting people to bring claims under the equality legislation. It could have a deputy chief commissioner with particular responsibility for equality.

In the annual reports of IHREC and the WRC, one should be able to clearly see the level of resources and the outcomes in terms of the exercise of their functions around equality.