Professor Eilion?ir Flynn:

In response to Senator Clonan’s question on the need for a legal charter, we already have the employment equality legislation, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. The challenge of that, of course, is that the individuals who experience the discrimination are the ones who have to bring a claim forward under that legislation. There are certainly grounds for thinking about a new way to understand equality legislation and different mechanisms by which people could pursue a claim rather than having to wait for individuals to identify what they have experienced as discrimination and have the courage, means and resources to go through a discrimination legal challenge, especially since this something for which a person does not have an entitlement to civil legal aid. Legal remedies can be useful but we need to carefully consider how we frame them. In addition, we need to make better use of the existing legal instruments in this respect.

One thing we could think about introducing in the employment context on a legal basis is something like the access to work legislation that exists in England, where an individual with a disability has an entitlement to support to enable him or her to stay in the workforce. Such people are entitled to that individually and carry that with them. For example, if they change jobs, become self-employed or want to pursue a different kind of career, they do not lose that eligibility and have to start all over again, proving their disability and the supports that they need. Something like an access to work to payment, which is controlled by and belongs to the individual and where the money follows him or her through his or her employment career would be beneficial to think about putting on a legal footing in the Irish context. Those are some recommendations we could pursue.