Press release
Minister O’Gorman publishes discrimination report to inform equality policy
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has today published a report on discrimination in Ireland. The report compiles data from a number of sources to provide data on the experience of discrimination reported by three groups: persons aged 18 years and over, children aged 12-17 years and Travellers and Roma. The report also provides findings on attitudes and perceptions regarding discrimination in society.
Below are some of the main findings by group:
Experience of discrimination among persons aged 18 years and over
• In 2019, 17% of persons aged 18 and over living in Ireland reported having experienced some form of discrimination in the previous two years, compared to 12% in 2014.
• Those who had a non-white ethnicity were most likely to experience some form of discrimination (33%), followed by those who were unemployed (30%). People aged 65 years or older were the least likely to report experiencing discrimination (11%).
Experience of discrimination among children
• In both the Health Behaviours and School-Aged Children Study (HBSC) and Growing Up in Ireland (GUI), children who experienced discrimination were most likely to report that they experienced it on the basis of age.
• Children from less advantaged social class backgrounds were the most likely to have experienced discrimination on the basis of ‘place of birth of self, parent or grandparent’ (30%), compared to 24% among children from the most advantaged social class backgrounds.
Experience of discrimination among members of the Traveller community
• Overall, 90% of Travellers reported that they had ‘ever’ experienced discrimination, with 77% reporting that they had experienced discrimination ‘in the past year’.
• Around three-quarters (72%) of Travellers living in Ireland reported experiencing discrimination when trying to rent or buy houses in the previous five years.
The report identifies variation in experiences of discrimination by different factors such as by gender, nationality, race disability status, sexual orientation, religion, membership of the Travelling community, and social class. In this way, it helps identify which of these population subgroups are likely to experience discrimination and allows policy makers to design targeted and effective strategies to tackle discrimination. .
Speaking about the report, Minister O’Gorman said:
“This is an important resource for Government, policy makers and indeed anyone interested in fighting discrimination and promoting equality. The report highlights that over a number of surveys certain population groups are more likely to experience discrimination.
“The numbers of Travellers reporting experiences of discrimination are particularly stark and unacceptably high and this should prompt widespread reflection. But knowing is not enough, we must do and this report will inform a number of Strategies including the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy review this year. It is also important in the context of my Department’s review of the Equality Acts.
“The report also provides us with data which is key to implementing equality budgeting across all Government Departments, an important initiative that started this year and will mean decision makers consider the impact of fiscal policies through an equality focus.”
ENDS
Irish equality legislation (Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 and Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015) defines discrimination as ‘treating one person in a less favourable way than another person’ (https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/equality_in_work/equality_in_the_workplace.html) The legislation lists nine grounds for discrimination:
• Gender
• Civil status
• Family status
• Sexual orientation
• Religion
• Age
• Disability
• Race
• Membership of the Traveller Community.
A tenth ground, in receipt of a Housing Assistance Payment, applies in the provision of accommodation.
In this Spotlight, data are presented on the experience of discrimination from:
• the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) module on equality from the General Household Survey, which was previously part of the Quarterly National Household Survey;
• the World Health Organization Health Behaviours in School-Aged Children survey, conducted by National University of Ireland, Galway;
• Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) The Lives of 17/18-Year-Olds;
• the Community Foundation of Ireland’s National Traveller Community Survey 2017;
• the Fundamental Rights Agency Survey of Roma and Travellers in Six Countries; and
• summary data are presented on cases referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under the Equal Status Acts and Employment Equality Acts.
Data are presented on perceptions and attitudes regarding discrimination from:
• the European Social Survey 2018;
• the Eurobarometer 493 Survey on Discrimination; and
• the National Disability Authority’s National Survey of Public Attitudes to Disability in Ireland.
The statistics are reported to one decimal point in the figures and tables. In the text, statistics are rounded to the nearest whole number except where the number is less than 5, in which case the statistic is reported to one decimal point.