Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I will share my time with Senator Maria McCormack.

I thank the Minister for coming in. Before I begin, I will acknowledge the absolutely Trojan work done by IHREC, the #AddThe10th Alliance, ATD Ireland, EAPN Ireland and the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, whose representatives are here with us today watching proceedings. Many other organisations have also put in a great deal of work in advancing this issue over the years. I also acknowledge the residents of south inner-city Dublin, who have fought for this issue for generations. Without these individuals and organisations pushing this issue forward for the past two decades, this Bill would not exist and we would not be having this conversation on the realities of socioeconomic discrimination.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend Irish equality legislation, particularly two equality Acts: the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act. These Acts currently legislate for nine grounds for discrimination covering marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion and membership of the Traveller community, thereby ensuring that people are not denied equal treatment because of their demographic or social identity. This Bill intends to add a further tenth form of discrimination to the legislation, that is, to expand the protections of both Acts to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disadvantaged socioeconomic status to ensure that people can no longer be discriminated against on the basis of their class or economic background.

Socioeconomic disadvantage is defined as belonging to a community that suffers from poverty, unemployment, insufficient access to education, poor housing, deprivation or any other form of socioeconomic marginalisation. It is an unfortunate reality that people in this country are faced with stigmatisation and prejudice based on nothing more than their accent, address or perceived social class. In countless communities across the State and particularly in inner-city Dublin, working people are routinely denied employment, housing, social opportunities, service provision and simple equal treatment from both private and public organisations. This systemic issue dates back generations for many people living in flat complexes, who report high levels of generational and present-day social exclusion and discrimination that is directly or indirectly due to their socioeconomic background. They are treated as second-class citizens simply because of where they come from, how they speak or how their perceived disadvantaged background defines them as people.

I will give an example from my area, in the constituency of Dublin Bay South. A man from a flat complex very close to here reported to me that, after submitting a video application for a job in a large multinational company, a drinks company, he was contacted by a concerned employee who informed him that fellow employees involved in the hiring process had exchanged text messages mocking this young individual's inner-city Dublin accent, with one questioning how a knacker like him could be qualified for the position. This incident directly led to him not being able to take the opportunity to advance his career. This is despite him holding a master's degree, having years of relevant experience and being fluent in Portuguese, as was required for the role. He was more than qualified. That is horrendous treatment for anyone to receive and yet the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, advised him that he had no legal resource due to the lack of legislation on this form of discrimination. Hence, we are here today. We may recall a similar issue highlighted by our colleague Senator Ruane in 2017 regarding admission practices at DIT, which is now TUD, in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds on an access programme were required to be Garda vetted while other students had no such requirement. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds were unfairly deemed to be dodgy and required to be vetted by the Garda before being allowed to join the rest of the college community, imposing a needless obstacle on them accessing education. This is blatant discrimination designed to reinforce the inequalities in our society, and if we are serious about allowing people the opportunity to succeed, we must ensure that social or economic disadvantage does not prevent someone from bettering his or her life and improving his or her community.

Ireland is a country with significant inequality and inflexible social strata, copper-fastened by socioeconomic disadvantage and how people's opportunities are considered by the prejudice of others. In 2024, Social Justice Ireland estimated that 559,850 people were living in poverty, of whom 176,912 were children. Similarly, the CSO concluded in 2023 that 17.3% of the population were experiencing enforced deprivation, meaning that they were unable to afford or access two or more basic necessities.

Article 40.1 of our Constitution states that all citizens should be held in equal regard before the law, yet these people lack the legal protections provided to other marginalised groups. The Bill offers a mechanism for people to fight back against this. For example, if the Bill is enacted, employers will not be able to legally discriminate against a job applicant or current employee because of his or her accent or the disadvantaged socioeconomic status of the area where he or she comes from. Further, it would not be legal for service providers to deny access to people because of socioeconomic status or where they live.

The introduction of a disadvantaged socioeconomic status ground will give people who experience discrimination on this ground the practical means to challenge their experience with a rights-based approach, as is the case with the other nine protected grounds. It will also be of very real, symbolic importance for the State, including the Government, to make clear to society and the people who face this discrimination that it will not be tolerated. By continuing to exclude socioeconomic status from our equality legislation, we are creating a hierarchy of equality in which we recognise certain forms of discrimination while failing to prohibit discrimination pertaining to disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and accents.

This is vital legislation and is long overdue. A decade ago, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission submitted a report to the United Nations on the need to enshrine a prohibition on socioeconomic discrimination in Irish equality legislation. Citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN observed that Ireland was failing to meet its civil rights obligations by not providing for protection against socioeconomic discrimination. Over the past 20 years, there have been countless reports and recommendations from civil society groups, public bodies and international organisations calling for this gap in the legislation to be addressed. Unfortunately, nothing has been done.

As I alluded to, this proposal is in no way new. Our colleague Senator Fiona O’Loughlin and the now Minister, Jim O’Callaghan, introduced a near-identical Bill in 2017, which was supported in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil and other Opposition parties. I applaud them for that, and I hope they will support this Bill today.

I introduced this Bill in the previous Dáil. Unfortunately, the Government parties chose to kill it off through an amendment that delayed its reading by 18 months. The reason given was that further time was needed to examine the introduction of disadvantaged socioeconomic status as an additional ground in the context of the review of Equality Acts that was then under way. That review has now concluded. Unfortunately, there is no mention of socioeconomic discrimination in the general scheme and heads of Bill arising from this review. The Minister for equality signalled that the Government did not oppose adding this definition of discrimination to the Equality Acts, but I find it incredibly disappointing that it was absent from this incoming legislation as well as from the programme for Government.

I understand that the Government has tabled an amendment to once again de facto kill off this Bill. I hope that all of us in the House do not let this debate be sidelined again. The danger is that this can continue to be kicked down the road with no end in sight. This is an urgent issue and one that countless people across the country have been waiting for many years to be addressed. They have waited too long for protection, and it is time that we get serious about fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged and marginalised.