Dáil debates
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
Legislative Reviews
8:30 pm
Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
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43. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on a review (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48553/23]
Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
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Will the Minister comment on his Department's review of the equality Acts? I would be grateful if he were to make a statement on the matter.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In 2021, I announced a review of the Equal Status Act 2000 and the Employment Equality Act 1998, known collectively as the equality Acts. The review is examining the operation of the equality Acts from the perspective of the person taking a claim under its redress mechanisms. It is further examining the degree to which those experiencing discrimination are aware of the legislation and whether there are practical or other obstacles that preclude or deter them from taking an action.
In July 2021, I launched a public consultation process as part of the review of the equality Acts to examine the functioning of the Acts and their effectiveness in combating discrimination and promoting equality. I was pleased to receive an extensive response to the consultation. A report summarising the key issues raised in the public consultation was published on 12 July 2023. Submissions were received on a wide variety of subjects, including all the equality grounds, namely, gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, membership of the Traveller community and the housing assistance ground. Other issues raised in the submissions included the proposed ground for disadvantaged socioeconomic status and the use of non-disclosure agreements, NDAs, in discrimination settlements. Many submissions also commented on the functioning and accessibility of the equality Acts and proposed how the legislation could be more accessible to the public and better protect people from discrimination.
Detailed work is under way to develop a policy that will underpin the legislative proposals and allow me to bring forward policies to respond on the issues raised during the review process. I intend to bring forward legislative proposals to Cabinet shortly in this regard. We will prioritise the legislative changes that can be implemented most quickly.
Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
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I appreciate that information. We need this ground to be included in any revision of the equality Acts. Recent budgets have further divided society. Recent research on deprivation, carried out by Pobal, highlighted that County Clare is marginally above average in terms of deprivation, with Kilrush being extremely disadvantaged and having a lone parent rate of almost 50%. Slightly fewer than 10% of my constituents finished their education at the end of primary school, according to Clare FM. There has been a lot of talk in this House in recent months about the Government getting tough on crime, but until we tackle the root causes of deprivation in society, there will continue to be spikes in crime throughout the country, along with other issues.
Last night, I attended the launch of new research by Clare Public Participation Network, PPN, in collaboration with the think-tank TASC, which looks at socioeconomic rights and just transition. It found that poverty in County Clare is infrastructural and systemic and located the origins of disadvantage in national and local policymaking.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Adding a new ground to the equality legislation and a new protected characteristic in terms of forbidding socioeconomic discrimination is something about which I feel passionately and which the Government committed to examining in the programme for Government. It has been the subject of Private Member's legislation from several parties in this House and the previous Dáil. I will be bringing proposals forward on that ground in terms of the legislative proposals. It is timely. All Deputies have been contacted by people who cannot put their home address down because their estate has a bad reputation, for whatever reason, and are worried their curriculum vitae would go to the bottom of the pile, or by people who, on walking into a club are told, "No, not tonight, lads", because of their accent. That is not acceptable, just as it is unacceptable to refuse a person access to a club because he or she is gay or black. That is why it is important we advance this ground.
Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
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I appreciate the Minister's remarks and note he mentioned his passion on this issue. The main point raised at the event I attended last night was that many of the challenges experienced by individuals enduring disadvantage, exclusion or poverty are beyond their capacity to address. Last year, Deputy Andrews and I brought forward a Bill to add a tenth discrimination ground on the basis of socioeconomic status and accent. As the Minister is aware, the Add the 10th Alliance is a fantastic umbrella group that is spearheading that campaign. I hope the Minister will consult it on this matter going forward. When the Bill reached Second Stage, I said I would work with the Minister every step of the way. I reiterate that sentiment. No constituent should ever feel they are less or deserve less because of from where they come.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Absolutely. I am happy to engage with the Deputy, particularly on the socioeconomic discrimination ground that I hope to bring forward in that draft legislation. As regards her wider point on poverty, its impact on people and the report launch she attended, a key step my Department was able to take in the budget this year is the introduction of the new equal participation model in early years. It is a DEIS approach for early years which recognises there are particular early years services that have a significant number of young people who may be from a Travelling community, a migrant background or an area of high socioeconomic disadvantage and those young people need more support. We have the funding for that for year 1 and will start its roll-out in September 2024. It will take several years to ramp it up fully but that will be a major intervention in terms of making sure all young people can access early learning and childcare and helping them get the best start early on in life.