Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It may be daft, but that is our system.

I assure the Minister of State that I recognise that some analysis of this Bill needs to be conducted, and my colleagues on the justice committee and I would be happy to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny in respect of it. I am not seeking to steamroll through our legislation just for the sake of getting it passed. Rather, it is an advancement of our equality laws. Care needs to be taken in that regard.

The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, and the Minister of State asserted that the Bill was ambiguous and would be difficult to enforce. It must first be acknowledged that both seem to recognise that there is an issue, namely, that people are being discriminated against unfairly on the basis of what I have described as their disadvantaged socioeconomic background. I accept that this is a more difficult ground to police and enforce than is the case with the nine other grounds. Regarding the gender ground, for instance, it is clear if a person is male or female. The point being made by the Government is that it is more difficult to assess whether a person is from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. I accept that, but a part of the responsibility of legislators is to try to develop and advance the law. Pay discrimination on the ground of gender was deemed unacceptable previously. We recognised that in the 1970s, but we need to keep developing our equality laws. All constitutional rights must be updated. They are dynamic. Deputies have a responsibility to ensure that constitutional rights are recognised in statutory frameworks to ensure they take into account ongoing difficult social circumstances.

There is a recognition in the House that people are being discriminated against because of where they come from and their backgrounds. I have tried in the Bill to give as best a definition as I can to describe "disadvantaged socioeconomic status", but let us be clear, it will be more difficult than describing gender. However, just because something is difficult does not mean it is something we should not attempt to do. The definition that Deputy O'Loughlin and I have set out refers to a particular identifiable status of social or economic disadvantage - this is not difficult to understand - resulting from poverty, level or source of income, homelessness, place of residence or family background. These are not difficult to decipher or interpret.

The most important aspect of equality legislation is that it is stated in statute that one cannot discriminate against people on grounds of race, gender or sexual orientation. It would be an addition to our equality legislation were we to include in that disadvantaged socioeconomic status. It is difficult to prove breaches of any of these equality grounds. If someone decides not to employ a person because she is a woman, it is difficult to prove, although some of the recent circumstances cited by the Ministers seem to have made that easier. In practice, it is difficult to prove any breach of these grounds, but that is not a reason for not doing this.

7 o’clock

Deputy Connolly mentioned a number of points to which I wish to reply. She stated that it is not appropriate to keep referring to local authority estates and areas as being areas of deprivation and areas where there is criminality or antisocial behaviour. I fully agree with her. What is being referred to for the purposes of this Bill is the fact that people are discriminating against individuals because they perceive, wrongly, that from where they come are areas of antisocial behaviour or where there are high levels of criminality. That is the reason we are mentioning it. It is the discriminator who is wrongly relying on those grounds.

We also must recognise the report recently prepared by Kieran Mulvey on foot of the Government's request into what was happening in north inner city Dublin. One of his findings was that there were high levels of unemployment and social deprivation in the area. We cannot hide away from the fact there are local authority areas which need significant State investment and the people there need some support. The Bill would give those people some support so that they could say that the State and its legislators are on their side and are trying to do something to deal with the discrimination which they accurately perceive exists.

Deputy Connolly referred to the fact that a number of months ago Deputy Pringle introduced a Bill which proposed to amend the Constitution by putting into it social and economic rights. She suggested that Fianna Fáil voted against the Bill. She is right, but that Bill was different from what is being put before the House today. This Bill would give effect to the principle of equality in Article 40.1 of our Constitution. Deputy Pringle was perfectly entitled to put forward a Bill. He wanted to put socioeconomic right into the Constitution so that they could thereafter be interpreted and applied by the Judiciary. It is our responsibility to make laws for the people of this country, and I urge people to support the Bill.

See this speech in context