The Government could end up before the European Court of Justice if it fails to act on a formal request by the European Commission to fully implement EU rules banning discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said today.
The Government should have fully implemented the Race Equality Directive by 2003 but, in common with 13 other Member States, it has just received a “reasoned opinion” from the European Commission stating that it has failed to implement the Directive correctly. This is the second step of formal EU infringement procedures, to which Ireland has two months to respond, failing which the Commission can take it to the European Court of Justice.
The problem areas in Ireland identified by the Commission include:
• an incorrect definition of indirect discrimination.
• the exclusion from protection against discrimination for certain “private” types of employment.
• the limitation of the right of interested parties to initiate proceedings to defend the victims of discrimination.
• the limit to compensation for victims of discrimination.
• the exclusion from protection against discrimination regarding certain types of housing.
Speaking in Dublin at the launch of the ICCL’s Annual Report this evening (3 July 2007), ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“2007 is the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, and action by the Government to fully implement this important EU Directive is already four years overdue. The EU’s equality laws play a vital part in combating discrimination in jobs, schools, shops, housing and healthcare and it is high time that the Government acted to ensure that the Race Equality Directive is fully effective in practice. The ICCL will continue to campaign to ensure that this is the case.”
For further information contact: Amy Pearson @ 01 799 4503 or 087 998 1574.
Note to Editors
Highlights of the ICCL’s Annual Report – released today
2006 was an eventful year as the ICCL celebrated its 30th Anniversary in protecting and promoting human rights. The ICCL continued to highlight human rights concerns to expert bodies including European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
Throughout 2006, ICCL activities highlighted the need to mainstream human rights considerations into Garda policy and practice. The organisation’s constructive contributions to human rights based reform included providing human rights training for senior officers, offering advice through the Garda Strategic Human Rights Advisory Committee. The ICCL also published Implementing Morris, An Agenda for Change (a short guide to implementing the human rights aspects of the Morris Tribunal reports) and the lobbying work around this publication resulted in political recognition of the need for reform by all of the main opposition parties, and by the former Tánaiste, who wrote to welcome the ICCL’s input into the debate.
In addition, the importance of the ICCL’s Equality for All Families report, which provides a blueprint for constitutional and legislative change to ensure that all families are treated equally, has been acknowledged by the Government’s Working Group on Domestic Partnership (the Colley Group) and by the Law Reform Commission.