LGBT+ community experiences most discrimination in Ireland

Mon, 16 Jun, 2025 - 16:19

Cianan Brennan

Gay and lesbian people are the most discriminated against demographic in Ireland, according to new statistics.

Some 59% of gay and lesbian people believe they have been discriminated against, according to the latest survey on equality and discrimination from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). More than half of bisexual people, or 55%, similarly reported such discrimination last year.

Separately, nearly half of transgender or non-binary people, 46%, had reported some form of discrimination over the previous two years.

In terms of racial discrimination, just under half of black Irish, black African, or others from a black background had been the subject of discrimination since 2022.

The same form of discrimination was experienced by just one in five white Irish people over the same timeframe, though within that cohort, members of the Traveller/Roma community experienced far higher levels, with 42% reporting being discriminated against.

More generally, more than one in five people aged over 18, or 22%, said they had felt discriminated against over the previous two years – a notable increase on the 18% figure returned in 2019, the previous iteration of the CSO’s study.

Workplace discrimination

The most common places to experience discrimination were in the workplace, where 7% of respondents said they had been discriminated against.

In retail and hospitality, the figure stood at 5%. The survey noted that 7% of the people polled had experienced discrimination in the workplace, up from the 6% returned as part of the prior 2019 study.

Taken in terms of gender identity, it found that transgender or non-binary people were more than three times as likely to experience workplace discrimination - 22% versus 7%.

Workplace discrimination broadly means situations where someone is treated less favourably than another person in a similar situation on foot of their differences, in terms of marital status, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, and religion.

The most common form of workplace discrimination was bullying or harassment, reported by more than one-third, or 35%, of those polled.

In terms of action taken to mitigate such harassment, by a distance the most common response was a verbal interaction –taking the matter to a manager, service provider, or a support organisation – opted for by 16% of those experiencing the discrimination.

Just 1% of those experiencing those workplace issues took legal action.

Other forms of discrimination

The study found that younger people aged between 18 and 24 experienced the most discrimination generally when looking for work, with 7% of that cohort reporting discrimination compared with just 3% of those aged between 45 and 64 years.

In terms of discrimination in social settings the most common areas for this to occur were retail and hospitality businesses – such as shops, pubs and restaurants.

The most significant ground for such discrimination in those settings was race with 33% of respondents, with age at 15% also a “very significant factor”, according to CSO statistician Maureen Delamere.

In terms of race, more than one in four of the various black ethnicities responding to the survey said they had experienced high levels of discrimination in social settings like shops and other retail outlets.

Regarding financial institutions, the overwhelmingly largest form of discrimination experienced was on the grounds of age, with 38% of respondents indicating same.

The next most common ground was socio-economic background – as indicated by a person’s address for example – at 24%, followed by race with 18%.

Some 3% of respondents said they had been discriminated against in contact with An Garda Síochána, with by far the most common occurrence being a traffic stop by Garda personnel.