Despite commitments to equality and human rights in the declaration of independence in 1916 and the constitution in 1937, many groups, including women, people with disabilities, people from the LGBTQ+ community, and the working class, found themselves excluded and treated as second class citizens.
Past discrimination
Examples of discrimination include the ways women and children were treated in Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes – the last of which closed in 1996.
The degree of gender in equality was staggering, it was not a criminal act for women to be raped in marriage until 1990 and until 1976 the family home could be sold without the consent of the wife.
The act of homosexuality was illegal until 1993 and the LGBTQ+ community had to hide their real selves for fear of attacks or discrimination.
My father’s education only went as far as primary school as secondary education was fee paying and like many of his generation his family could not afford to send him. By the end of the 1960s only 36% were still at school at 16.
Contraception was illegal until 1979 and even after that contraceptives were only provided through pharmacies and you had to have a prescription. The Irish Family Planning Association was prosecuted for selling condoms through a record store in 1990, during an AIDS epidemic.
Progress
It is a great credit to Irish people and civil society in particular that, coming from a low base, Ireland has made great progress in the areas of equality and human rights over the last 30 years in particular.
There are many examples from employment law to equal status equality legislation, from same sex marriage to the repeal of the 8th amendment, the gender recognition act, policies to increase the participation of women in politics, the economy, society and sports.
The launch of free secondary education in 1967 removed barriers to education for thousands and greatly increased social mobility. Today, Ireland now has one of the highest secondary school completion rates in the world.
Economic rights gained in the forms of the minimum wage, pensions and sickness benefits are examples of progress, but as in all areas of equality and human rights there is still a lot of work to be done.
Current challenges
They say that every era has its massive blind spots; we may not see them, but our children will.
With that in mind, we should be alert to the fact that that at any particular time there are groups who are being discriminated against and not being full included due to prejudice at a societal or institutional levels.
These groups currently include families and children living in poverty, people seeking asylum, Travellers, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+.
A recent report shows that hate crime reported to the Gardaí increased by 12% between 2022 and 2023 with the most commonly reported motives being anti-race, anti-nationality and anti-sexual orientation.
The reality is that the equality and human rights concepts and legislation are, like democracy itself, relatively new. While many of us have benefited from progress to date we cannot take this for granted. At international level there has been a kickback against progress made by minority groups and we can see this in Poland, Germany, Spain, India, and the US.
While Ireland doesn’t have a strong history of right wingers in mainstream politics the degree to which a society succumbs to prejudice depends on many factors. One of these is current events.
Parties with anti-equality views, some with links to far rights groups outside of Ireland, contested the recent local and European elections. They are influenced by current affairs – increased migration, lack of key services, the high cost of living and the influence by international right wing groups.
So, Ireland has a challenge if its wants a society where the value and dignity of all individuals is respected and everyone has a real opportunity to thrive.
