Ms Eilis Barry:

If I take the socioeconomic ground first, we have set out in our submission on page 37 the elements that need to be included in a definition of socioeconomic status. The definition is first. There has been a Bill already that contains almost all of the elements that we have indicated should be included. I encourage this committee to look at the previous Bills. IHREC have also made submissions in this regard.

From FLAC's perspective, one of the things that prompted the request for the review of the legislation was how we were wholly in favour of, and fully saw the necessity for, such a ground because many of the groups already covered under the legislation also experienced discrimination on socioeconomic status ground. Our problem is the inaccessibility of the legislation. Many people do not know about the legislation. There is a requirement in the Equal Status Act that one has to send a written notification within two months of the act of discrimination. A lot of people fail at that hurdle. The remedies under the Act are so low that claims can be bought off for very little amounts of money. There is a real need to strengthen the whole equality infrastructure to make sure that the socioeconomic ground actually has effect.

The Equal Status Act does not explicitly include the functions of the State. Whole areas of public activity and the activities of public bodies are excluded, so if a socioeconomic status ground is introduced without the State formally included within its scope, that very much limits the potential of that ground to have a real impact on the lives of people experiencing socioeconomic status discrimination. Section 5 of the Equal Status Act applies to the provision of goods and services. Case law has established that that does not extend to the functions of the State. For example, the investigation of crimes by An Garda Síochána is not covered. The Prison Service is not covered. There is also an exemption in section 14 that exempts anything in statute. For example, a provision in the Social Welfare Act cannot be challenged. If that impacted on the socioeconomic status, it would very much limit the ground's potential.