THE IMPACT of Ireland’s equality legislation will be examined later this year, to be followed by an international conference next year, according to the chief executive of the Equality Authority, Renee Dempsey.
She was speaking at an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act.
The research will be jointly sponsored by the authority, the Equality Tribunal and the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, and the results would be presented to the two-day conference next October.
She said the Equality Authority had dealt with over 100,000 inquiries over the past 10 years, had carried out public awareness campaigns on issues such as ageism, integrated workplaces, reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities, homophobic bullying in schools and the promotion of equal opportunity.
The authority’s ground-breaking legal case-work had resulted in many of the significant settlements and awards made by the Equality Tribunal, she said.
Melanie Pine, director of the Equality Tribunal, launched a CD of all its decisions and its legal reviews since its establishment a decade ago. She said it had dealt with claims from more than 22,000 people over the past decade, covering all aspects of discrimination both in the areas of employment and the provision of goods and services.
Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness, former Supreme Court judge and president of the Law Reform Commission, reminded the audience that prior to 1973 the marriage bar was still in place and women were not paid equal wages or treated equally in social welfare provision. Some of the equality legislation was not very clear, she said, as it included amendments to other Acts. One of the tasks of the Law Reform Commission was to bring it all together in a restatement of the law.
Niall McCutcheon, from the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, said that over the past 10 years most of the legislation in the equality area followed EU directives, leading to amendments of existing Acts.
Award: ‘Times’ journalist honoured
RUADHÁN MAC CORMAIC of The Irish Timeshas been awarded the Journalist's Award for Diversity and Against Discrimination by the European Commission. One award is presented in each member state, and an overall winner will then be selected.
Ruth Deasy presented the award on behalf of the commission at yesterday’s event, describing the winner as “one of the bright young stars of Irish journalism”. The award was made for his coverage of female genital mutilation.