Call to clarify when schools can refuse students on basis of religion 

The country's human rights watchdog has told Government that greater clarity is needed on when private primary schools and all secondary schools can refuse to admit a student on the basis of religion.

The country's human rights watchdog has told Government that Ireland's equality laws need urgent reform, including greater protections for carers and clarity on when private primary schools and all secondary schools can refuse to admit a student on the basis of religion.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has issued a raft of recommendations to  Equality Minister Roderic O'Gorman, as part of the review of existing laws.

The IHREC submission makes a total of 60 recommendations, including relating to access to justice and the inability to challenge certain exemptions. One of those is the role of religion when it comes to school entry.

According to IHREC: "Private primary schools and all secondary schools can currently refuse to admit a student on the basis of religion where: 'it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school'. Clarity is needed in law on the definition of ‘ethos,’ and precisely what would be required to establish that such a refusal was ‘essential’ to school ethos."

Other key recommendations include the need for carers to be explicitly protected from being targeted in accessing employment or services due to their responsibilities, and that domestic workers need to be defined as employees and protected under employment equality laws.

According to the IHREC submission: "The Commission has previously made recommendations to overhaul State policy to ensure that care work is adequately supported, publically valued and equally shared. The Commission is of the view that the current definition of the ‘family status’ ground does not go far enough to capture and protect the full range of caring responsibilities present in modern Irish society.

Reconciling work and family life

"Many people may now care for older relatives or individuals who do not live under the same roof as them. The intention behind the family ground was to reconcile work and family life and ensure people did not have to forsake family responsibilities in the course of their employment. It is still the case, however, that care remains a highly gendered aspect of Irish society and this may have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic."

It said women are far more likely than men to be engaged in care work and this "often must be juggled with employment responsibilities and women are overrepresented amongst employees availing of reduced hours.

Ireland has the third-highest rate of unpaid work for both men and women, and the gap between the genders is among the greatest of the member states. 

Therefore, deficiencies in the protection offered by the Acts have a particular impact on women and serve to perpetuate gender inequality in the labour market."

It also said: "The exclusion of domestic workers from the definition of employee is a de facto exemption for employers in recruitment and treatment, and disproportionately affects women and migrant women."

Chief Commissioner Sinéad Gibney said: “The next generation of equality legislation needs to combat all emerging and cumulative forms of discrimination, comply with European and international legal frameworks, ensure awareness of rights, mandate disaggregated data, and address the existing procedural and accessibility issues impacting on access to justice.