The justice committee recently produced a report on Ireland’s spent convictions regime after hearing evidence from prisons and rehabilitation experts in the summer.

A private member’s bill to expand the spent convictions regime was introduced by Senator Lynn Ruane and passed the second stage in the Seanad with unanimous support in February.

However, the justice committee has suggested that separate legislation should be introduced to ensure that employers cannot discriminate against job applicants “based on convictions that are spent or if the conviction does not relate to the ability to meet and perform the inherent requirements of a particular job”.

The change should be introduced through an amendment to the Employment Equality Acts, it said.

The committee also said anti-discrimination legislation should be extended to preventing people with spent convictions from being charged higher insurance premiums or excluded from educational courses.