People crying out for equality

TODAY’S launching of an ambitious blueprint aimed at rooting out discrimination across the spectrum of Irish society – including the workplace, in health and education, among disabled people and the poor – will challenge a Government whose performance on equality legislation has been anything but impressive.

In a radical move, the strategic plan drawn up by the Equality Authority for 2003-2005, which will be unveiled by Justice Minister Michael McDowell, will extend the protection of gays and lesbians to the school classroom.

It would be hard to exaggerate the uphill battle facing the authority as it sets out to accelerate progress towards a more equal and inclusive society in Ireland. It will have its work cut out to establish a level playing field in such areas as health and education where inequality is rife.

Within the health service, for instance, the existence of a two-tier system dooms thousands of people to wait for years in never-ending queues for hospital beds, whereas those who can afford to pay the high fees demanded by consultants can gain ready access to treatment.

Similar discrimination is evident in the realm of third-level education where grants are freely available for the sons and daughters of big farmers and others who are well-off, whereas the gates of universities are shut in the faces of young men and women from deprived communities where the need for educational advancement is greatest.

It remains to be seen if Education Minister Noel Dempsey can achieve a greater degree of equality on this front. To date, the authority has been active in stimulating joint initiatives with the social partners for more effective equality strategies in the workplace.

Broadening its horizon, the new plan sets out to give the community a much greater role in anti-poverty strategies by promoting equality and combatting discrimination at local level.

But it will take more than lip service to achieve these aims and the authority is hoping the process of consulting trade unions, community and voluntary organisations, the business and public sectors about its plans and future strategies will now pay off.

Their support will be vital in addressing such vexed questions as disability, racism and the plight of carers forced to fill a vacuum resulting from neglect of the family by successive governments. Ireland’s launch of European Day for the Disabled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will be marked by protests against cutbacks in services.

Following the Supreme Court ruling against the right of asylum seekers to remain here and bring up their Irish-born children, it is unclear if Minister McDowell will underpin what appear like a two-tier system of Irish citizenship. The future of more than 10,000 people is in his hands.

Another explosive question which the authority looks set to grasp concerns alleged discrimination by publicans against minorities including Travellers and others. How it tackles this dilemma will be an acid test of its authority.

When he unveils the equality blueprint today, Mr McDowell can be sure that deprived, marginalised and vulnerable people everywhere will look to him for meaningful policies to improve the quality of their lives.