Ireland’s Evolving Equality Architecture

16 June 2021: Ireland’s Evolving Equality Architecture

The dedicated equality bodies which were in place when the Equal Status Act 2000 was introduced, the Equality Tribunal and the Equality Authority, were subsumed into the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) in 2014. This seminar will discuss the experience of those bodies, and will explore the potential of an integrated approach to Equality and Human Rights.

The seminar will also highlight the practical barriers individuals face in seeking to prosecute a discrimination complaint before the WRC. The absence of legal aid before that tribunal has been the subject of criticism from international bodies such as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. These concerns are all the more pressing in light of the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Zalewski v Adjudication Officer & Ors [2021] IESC 24, which included important findings on the “standard of justice” required by the Constitution in tribunals involved in the administration of justice.

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