Action urged to tackle discrimination against the poor

Prejudice against people because of their socio-economic status should be banned, according to a new report.

Published by the Equality and Rights Alliance (ERA), it argues equality legislation here is incomplete and calls for socio-economic status to be added to the nine grounds already set out in the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act. They are gender, marital or civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller community.

There are “multiple links between poverty and social exclusions and discrimination” it says and growing international recognition of the need to protect economic and social rights to ensure individuals fully enjoy their human rights.

Niall Crowley, chair of the ERA, said recent figures from the CSO showed 12 per cent had experienced discrimination in the previous two years and "a massive 41 per cent of those experienced discrimination on grounds other than the nine covered".

“If we want equality legislation that works for everyone it must be comprehensive. There’s a big hole in ours and it’s called socio-economic status.”

Asked how it would work if socio-economic status was named in anti-discrimination legislation , Mr Crowley said it would be named and there would be factors to assess where discrimination was alleged.

“You’d pick geographical location, housing status, education status, employment status. If you look at European models, the most effective way has been to get specific about the nature of disadvantage and they are probably the four most useful indicators.”

No redress

He said discrimination against people who were poor, in accessing shops, services, housing, education and healthcare was known to happen, but there was no redress for this.

Written by Tamas Kadar, head of the legal team with Equinet, a European Network of equality bodies, the report looks at how it works in other jurisdictions.

In Belgium the federal anti-discrimination act specifically names income and social origin as grounds on which a person cannot be discriminated against, while in Canada several provinces and territories name socio-economic grounds.

Mr Crowley said discrimination against the economically disadvantaged had “deepened and been exacerbated by the economic and financial crisis . . . and deepening poverty”.

As inequality grew, this was set to worsen further, adding urgency to the need to protect people from socio-economic discrimination.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, said he would raise the report's recommendations with colleagues.