The pursuit of equality in Irish society took on new substance in October 1999. The Employment Equality Act came into law establishing an equality agenda covering the nine grounds of gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, race and membership of the Traveller community. The breadth of this agenda places Ireland at the leading edge of equality strategies across the European Union. This situation should be considerably advanced by mid summer when it is expected that the Equal Status legislation will come into law. This will outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services, education and accommodation. This establishes a legal basis for equality beyond the workplace across the wider society. A coherent approach to equality is now possible for all organisations in terms of both their internal relationships or human resource functions and their external relationships or customer service functions.
There is an exciting new potential in this new legislation. Diversity is acknowledged and affirmed in law. This is a significant step for a society that previously prized a mythical homogeneous Irish identity. A multiplicity of identities are now acknowledged and their right to expression affirmed.
The oppressive nature of a society organised around a mythical homogeneity is evident from the range of discriminations that have impeded any expression of diversity. The Equality Authority, set up under the legislation to promote equality and to combat discrimination, has seen ample evidence of such discriminations over the short period since we were established. We received over three thousand queries in our first five months. These were led by the gender ground with the new grounds of disability, age, race and sexual orientation emerging with some strength. While the extent and profile of the demands on the Equality Authority will change with the passage of equal status legislation, the demand to date reflects high levels of discrimination. So while there is a new potential in the current situation, there is also a very large challenge to be met.
The education system itself has an important contribution to make in ensuring this challenge is met. The value of this contribution is reflected in the focus on the education system in the Strategic Plan of the Equality Authority.
A range of relationships with the education systems are already being developed. The Equality Authority has established two advisory committees - one to report on the equality agenda for older people, one to report on the equality agenda for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Both advisory committees have already identified the education system as a key focus and have usefully involved representatives from the Department of Education.
Research is another focus for the Equality Authority. We share a concern with many in educational institutions, and beyond, at low levels of funding for equality focused research. We also hope to facilitate greater networking between those involved in such research. Our approach in this area has already benefited from the contribution of a wide range of academics.
Further relationships are also being developed with a range of sections in the Department of Education and Science. These flow from our commitment to ensuring our work in implementing the new legislation could inform the formulation of new policy and provision.
Our focus on the education system is based on an acknowledgement of the range of roles being played by educational establishments:-
The Equality Authority hopes to be able to contribute to the effective pursuit of all these roles, from an equality perspective, by educational establishments.
The Equality Authority is a very new institution. It is only laying foundations over the present period for its future contribution to the wider pursuit of equality. One important foundation is its Strategic Plan which was launched in March of this year.
This Plan establishes the mission of the Equality Authority in the following terms:-
"The Equality Authority is committed to realising positive change in the situation of those experiencing inequality by-
* Promoting and defending the rights established in the equality legislation
And
* Providing leadership in
The plan then sets out the various powers of the Equality Authority grouped under three objectives as outlined below:
1."We will promote and defend the rights established under the Employment Equality Act, 1998 and the Equal Status legislation, when enacted".
The pursuit of this objective involves the Equality Authority in a communication strategy as well as casework. A consciousness of the new rights and a confidence in acting upon them are central to the effectiveness of the new legislation. The Equality Authority has devised a communication strategy with the objectives of:-
This strategy should provide a foundation for an effective casework strategy. The Equality Authority provides free advice and legal representation as appropriate to those who feel they have been discriminated against. Cases under the legislation will generally be heard in the new Office of the Director of Equality Investigations although gender cases can go direct to the Circuit Court and the Labour Court has jurisdiction over cases involving dismissal or victimisation.
2."We will support the development of a capacity to realise equality outcomes in the workplace and in the provision of goods, facilities, services, education and accommodation".
Codes of practice will be an important developmental power of the Equality Authority in pursuit of this objective. This will set out how obligations under the legislation can be met in practice. They will be prepared on the basis of widespread consultation. They have a particular power in that they can, once approved by the Minister, be used in evidence in hearings under the legislation. The first codes of practice are likely to cover sexual harassment and harassment, and recruitment and selection.
Research and demonstration projects are other valuable developmental tools for the Equality Authority. Our research programme will seek to:
Initial research work has focused on developing the concept of an integrated equality agenda encompassing nine different grounds, on exploring the interface between equality and poverty within the Poverty Proofing Guidelines and on issues around data deficits.
Demonstration projects will seek to test out new ways of pursuing equality and new approaches to engaging a variety of interests in this pursuit. The Equality Authority has been accorded resources under the National Development Plan to implement a programme of demonstration projects in relation to supporting family friendly workplace strategies.
3."We will contribute to a mainstreaming of equality within the private and public sectors and a focus on equality issues across society".
The preparation of Equality Reviews and Action Plans are a new power accorded to the Equality Authority. These involve an audit of the equality situation in an organisation. This can be done from both a human resources and a customer service focus. Goals are then established on foot of this audit designed to improve this equality situation and an action plan prepared to realise such goals.
While the Equality Authority could implement a Review of its own initiative on organisations with a staff of 50 or more, we do see this power as developmental and as being most effectively deployed in partnership with organisations. Under the National Development Plan we will have access to resources so that we can make funds available to organisations to assist them in conducting an equality review and preparing an action plan.
The focus on mainstreaming will also involve the Equality Authority in:
On the basis of these three objectives the parameters for the development of the Equality Authority over the next three years are set. It is a demanding agenda and one that we will only effectively realise if we are able to secure the effective cooperation of and participation in our work, by a wide range of interests. To date we have been encouraged by the very positive response to our initiatives.
Across this very positive picture issues have been raised about exemptions in the legislation and their ability to diminish the impact of the legislation. In the area of education this issue has been raised in terms of exemptions allowing institutions to protect against any underpinning of their religious ethos.
Casework alone will establish to what extent any exemptions end up being a barrier to progress. The Equality Authority is committed to a casework strategy that secures a clarity of interpretation of these exemptions. As such it is important that debate about the impact of exemptions does not end up being a barrier to people identifying discrimination and seeking to take action to redress this experience.
The issue of religious ethos is a case in point. Casework is required to secure a clarity as to what religious ethos means and at what point a religious ethos gets undermined. It is only to be hoped that an acceptance of diversity lies at the heart of any religious ethos. Equally it is to be hoped that a religious ethos is not so fragile as to be undermined by any expression of diversity.
These are times full of potential. A wide range of individuals and organisations are challenged to realise this potential. The Equality Authority is there as a support and a resource to all in building a societal ethos that affirms diversity and in realising an egalitarian society.