Call to foster `human rights culture' here

Ireland had "considerable advantages" over other states in addressing the question of how to sustain economic growth while ensuring equality, an international professor on human rights said yesterday.

Oxford professor Dr Christopher McCrudden, also a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School, was speaking at a plenary session of the National Economic and Social Forum in Dublin. Though acknowledging social exclusion was clearly a growing problem, he said Ireland was "not yet a society held back by the kinds of fundamental social, economic, religious or racial cleavages found in other societies." An `equality strategy' was vital if real equality of outcome as well as of opportunity was to be achieved, he said.

Dr McCrudden said Ireland had been profoundly influenced by EU legislation and international human rights instruments, though these left considerable discretion as to how best the state should deliver on human rights.

"I think much more attention should be paid to the creation of a human rights culture," he said. "We face the central issue of what relationship is appropriate between legally protected rights to equality and their relationship to the institutions of democracy."

Dr McCrudden warned that the vision of equality embodied in legislation could be "too far-reaching" for the structures provided in the legislation.

Therefore, there should be a co-ordinated approach from government, with inter-linked initiatives moving towards common goals. The "yawning gap" in the Irish context was "the absence of a strong statement of equality" in the State's Constitution. "Its absence undermines the notion that it [equality] is a fundamental principle that will guide State action," said Dr McCrudden. Anti-discrimination legislation, while necessary, was therefore insufficient in itself. Equality should be taken into account in all discussions on Government policy planning. Mr Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, agreed that challenges lay ahead in bringing aspirations to equality to fruition. Current legislation provides protection for people on nine grounds: gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, race and membership of the Traveller community.

Ms Maureen Gaffney, chairperson of the National Economic and Social Forum, said the concept of "difference" should be a dynamic one, open to change - "because different people are different for different reasons in different circumstances."

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, outlined future developments in equality legislation, such as an amendment to the Parental Leave Act to comply with the EU Parental Leave Directive, the forthcoming Disabilities Bill and the preparation of legislation to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into Irish Law.