FLAC welcomes minister’s equality pledge
FLAC has welcomed a junior minister’s commitment to enact legislation to update and strengthen Ireland’s anti-discrimination and equality laws before the end of 2027.
The pledge was made by Emer Higgins (Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability and Equality) at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.
Minister Higgins was representing the State yesterday (10 November) at a periodic review of Ireland’s human-rights record under the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.
Specific timeframe
In a statement, FLAC said that it had long campaigned for reform of Ireland’s equality legislation and the enactment of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 that emerged from a review of the relevant acts.
It added that Minister Higgins’s statement represented the first time the Government had committed to enacting the bill within a specific timeframe, describing it as “a hugely welcome development”.
FLAC, which made a joint submission to the UPR process with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, also called on the State to accept recommendations made by member states – including a call from to ensure that any reforms to the judicial-review process did not limit effective access to the courts for disadvantaged groups.