One-third of LGBT+ people experienced discrimination in past two years - CSO figures
One-third of LGBT+ people have experienced discrimination in Ireland in the past two years.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that 18% of people over the age of 18 said they felt discriminated against in the past two years.
The highest rates of discrimination (33.2%) were reported by people who identify as LGBTI+ — lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender plus related communities. This was followed by persons from non-white ethnic backgrounds (33.1%), unemployed (30.2%) and non-Irish persons (26.7%)
Just under 12% of people reported that they had experienced discrimination when accessing services while almost one in 10 (9.4%) reported work-related discrimination.
Bullying or harassment (32.8%) and promotion and work conditions (both at 18.9%) were the most common reasons given for discrimination in the workplace.
Sexual orientation was cited as a reason for discrimination by 9.5% of men and 8.8% of women who have experienced any type of discrimination.
Nearly one third (32.3%) of those who experienced discrimination indicated that they had a good understanding of their rights under Irish equality legislation.
Despite this, nearly seven out of every 10 people who experienced discrimination in the two years prior to interview did not take any action in response to their experience.
CEO of LGBTI+ youth charity BeLonG To, Moninne Griffith, said she isn't surprised at the CSO findings. She pointed to research done by the Hate and Hostility Research Group at the University of Limerick as part of the Call It Out campaign which found that just one third of people believe that violence against the LGBT+ community continues to be a problem in Ireland when, in fact, one in five LGBTI+ people have been punched, hit or physically attacked in public for their sexual orientation or how they identify.
It shows that even in the post-marriage equality era, there's a lot of work to do and we have a long way to go to achieve what we voted for.
"We have gotten so much right in Ireland but that doesn't mean we rest on our laurels," she said.
Pippa Woolnough, communications and advocacy manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland described the CSO findings as distressing:
“It is really distressing to hear one in three people from a migrant background has faced discrimination because of who they are.
"The CSO survey indicates discrimination is happening in the workplace and also accessing services – which reflects the experiences of the people who contact the Immigrant Council of Ireland’s racist incident referral support service."
“Previous polling has found the majority of Irish society is welcoming, however that does not mean racism does not exist.
"Findings from this CSO survey indicate we need urgent, proactive action to tackle racism, including public awareness campaigns, mandatory diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace alongside targeted training for management and frontline staff, and improved reporting mechanisms for racism so the State can tailor its response to ensure it tackles root causes," she said.
Ms Woolnough said the fact that seven in 10 of those who experienced discrimination took no action is "worrying".
This underscores the need to develop avenues for people to follow to report racist incidents, for this to be recorded and follow up action undertaken.
"Ireland is without effective hate crime legislation, a gap which many NGOs have identified and long called to be filled."
