Ms Eilis Barry:

At this stage, we know what is good and what works in the existing legislation and what does not. We have seen the impact on the poor provisions of reasonable accommodation under the Equal Status Act. We have seen the impact of transferring the jurisdiction from what was then the equality tribunal into the District Court of claims against licensed vintners. We see clearly now how, in effect, the State is pretty much excluded from the ambit of the Equal Status Act because of all the exemptions the Act contains. We have seen the limits of the grounds and the fact that people suffer - people may want to bring claims or may have to bring claims under two grounds - and how the grounds need to be improved, but the concept of intersectionality also needs to be properly introduced. It is a really good time to fix what is wrong, but I would also echo everyone else who said it is a time to be ambitious.