Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Ireland (Ratification: 1999)

Articles 1(1)(b) and 2 of the Convention. Discrimination based on disability and equality of opportunity and treatment. The Committee notes that, as indicated by the Government in its report, the National Disability Authority (NDA) carried out a fifth and final assessment of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) 2017–21 (which had been extended until end of 2022). In its report, published in June 2023, the NDA noted that: (1) out of the 125 actions within the revised Strategy, 30 were marked as “complete” by Departments at the end of 2022, while 74 were marked as “on track” for completion; (2) one of the action flagged “red” by Departments and Agencies, indicating a significant delivery issue, was action 53 which commits to developing proposals to address access to, or affordability of, necessary aids, appliances or assistive technologies required for everyday living, for those people with disabilities whose entry, retention or return to work could be jeopardised due to being unable to afford these items; (3) planning will be required to ensure the long-term sustainability of the “Employers for Change” initiative launched in March 2021 (a service providing employers with advice and information about recruiting and employing people with disabilities); and (4) 30 per cent of participants who completed the Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) – launched in 2021 under the “Pathways to Work 2021-2025” employment strategy – entered employment (the NDA noted the value of this programme which allowed participants to retain disability allowance while also achieving accreditation for their placement). The Committee notes the Government’s commitment, stated in its report, to develop a successor strategy to the NDIS 2017–22, while warning that this is a complex process which will take time. The Committee also recalls that Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 obliges public bodies to take all reasonable measures to support and promote the employment of people with disabilities, with an initial target of achieving employment of staff with disabilities of 3 per cent. It notes with interest the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022, which took effect in April 2023 and increases the minimum target to 6 per cent by 2025. The report of the NDA found that public sector in general exceeded the minimum target of 3 per cent for the eleventh successive year (3.6 per cent in 2021) but noted the importance of all public bodies giving this area focus in the coming years, as the revised target will necessitate almost 2,000 additional disabled people being employed in the sector in each year to 2025 (in 2021, 36.5 per cent of public bodies had reached the 6 per cent threshold). The Committee also notes the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) submissions to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) indicating that the country continued to have among the lowest employment rates of persons with disabilities in the European Union (EU), failure to put reasonable accommodation measures in place and high rates of work-related illnesses (see A/HRC/WG.6/39/IRL/3, 12 August 2021, paragraph 12; and IHREC’s parallel report to CEDAW, September 2023, pages 62–63). Finally, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with disabilities (CES), adopted in 2015, aims at increasing, by 2024, the number of persons with disabilities in work by 15 per cent compared to 2011 levels (i.e. from 33 to 38 per cent over a 10-year period). In this regards, the Committee notes that the results of the 2022 census show that the labour force participation rate of the total population living with a disability was 39.6 per cent (35.6 per cent for women, 44.2 per cent for men), with the Government indicating that these results are likely due to the combined effect of a change in census questions, a different economic and fiscal landscape and the continued effect of the actions pursued under the CES. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) the measures taken or envisaged to follow-up on the final assessment of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017–22 by the National Disability Authority and its recommendations; (ii) the state of progress of the adoption of the new National Disability Inclusion Strategy; and (iii) the results achieved in the labour force participation of persons living with a disability, as well as the ratio of staff with disabilities in public bodies.

Article 2. Gender equality. The Committee notes with satisfaction that the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021 was signed into law on 27 March 2021, amending the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 so that a couple who jointly adopts a child can choose which member of the couple is to be entitled to employment leave under the Act (and not only adopting mothers or sole male adopters as it was the case previously). The Committee also welcomes the Government’s indication that the parent’s leave has been increased to seven weeks (to be taken during the first two years of the child’s life or adoptive placement) and should be extended to nine weeks in 2024 in line with the requirement of the European Union Work Life Balance Directive. This non-transferable individual entitlement is intended to support and encourage greater sharing of care for young children. Unpaid parental leave entitlements have been extended to 26 weeks in respect of children up to 12 years (or 16 if the child has a disability) and a new entitlement to leave for medical care purposes has been introduced for parents and carers. The statutory entitlement to breastfeeding/lactation breaks for employees has also been extended from 6 months to 2 years after the birth of the child. In reply to the Committee’s previous request, the Government indicates that, in 2021, parents’ leave and unpaid parental leave were taken by 1.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent of workers respectively but that a breakdown by gender is not currently available. However, according to statistical information on social welfare services in 2022, 4,112 persons received parent’s benefits in respect of paid parent’s leave (30 per cent men and 70 per cent women). As regards the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017–20 (which was extended to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic), the Government indicates that it brought positive outcomes such as: (1) an increasing presence of women in the labour market since 2019 with noticeable increases in some sectors (+38 per cent in Construction as well as in Information and Communication, +25 per cent in Education, +24 per cent in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities); (2) an increase in the employment rate of women at 74.2 per cent for the second quarter of 2023, the highest level since records began in 1998 (gains observed are concentrated amongst women with higher levels of education); (3) a decrease in the proportion of women who are inactive in the labour market due to caring responsibilities, although it remains at 44.7 per cent in 2020 (from 56.5 per cent in 2016); and (4) an increase in the representation of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed Irish-registered companies on the stock exchange in Ireland, from 16.5 per cent in 2016 to 32 per cent in 2022. The Committee notes, however, that according to the Government the share of women of working age who are active remains approximately 10 percentage points lower than that of men (69.9 vs. 79.4 per cent in 2021). The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that the second implementation plan of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Policy Statement 2017–26 has been launched in 2023. In that regard, it notes that the IHREC, in its submissions to the CEDAW in September 2023, noted that girls continue to be underrepresented in STEM subjects and indicated that both the Citizens’ Assembly and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality had issued recommendations to address the issues of gender norms and stereotypes in the education system, including the provision of gender-neutral career information and advice (IHREC’s report to CEDAW, pages 57–58). The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the steps taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and occupation, and on the impact of such steps, including on: (i) the development of a successor strategy to the National Strategy for Women and Girls; and (ii) the results achieved so far under the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–26 (the Committee recalls that the aim is to increase uptake of STEM subjects by females by 40 per cent by 2026).

Equality of opportunity and treatment irrespective of race, colour and national extraction. In relation to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s reference to the Monitoring Report on Integration 2022, produced by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which shows that, despite a greater impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers (2020–21), migrant employment had risen above Irish-born employment rates in the first quarter of 2022 (77 compared to 72 per cent) and, more specifically, the employment rate of African-born population increased from 56 to 74 per cent between the first quarters of 2020 and 2022. ESRI also published in January 2023 a report on the wages and working conditions of non-Irish nationals in Ireland during the period 2011–18. It found that, even after controlling for differences in the social and demographic make-up of Irish and non-Irish nationals and job/firm characteristics, most non-Irish nationals have lower earnings than Irish nationals, including those from EU-West (earning 7 per cent less), EU-East (21 per cent less), the rest of Europe (12 per cent less), Africa (14 per cent less), Asia (17 per cent less) and the rest of the world (16 per cent less). In addition, the report pointed out that, overall, non-Irish men earn less than Irish men, and non-Irish women earn less than non-Irish men, leaving non-Irish women doubly disadvantaged – for being women and for being migrants. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that both the National Traveller and Roma Integration Strategy 2017–2021 (NTRIS) and the Migrant Integration Strategy concluded in 2021 and that successor strategies are being developed. Furthermore, the “Pathways to Work 2021–2025” (the national employment services strategy) focuses on supporting those who face barriers in the labour market and contains a number of commitments relating to Travelers and Roma (for example, the Department of Social Protection’s Employer Services Operations established a consultative forum with Travellers and Roma organisations in December 2022 with the aim to developing specific employment service engagement tools). In addition, a National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR) was launched on 21 March 2023 and will be implemented over the period 2023–2027. The Committee also notes that, in its above-mentioned submissions, the IHREC emphasized that Travellers and Black people experienced high rates of labour market discrimination; denounced the exploitation of domestic workers, the majority of whom tend to be migrant women; and mentioned the existence of barriers to accessing and participating in education for migrants as well as second-generation ethnic minority young people, which are likely to have a significant impact on the education of women and girls due to the absence of gender-sensitive supports, such as childcare (A/HRC/WG.6/39/IRL/3, paragraph 3; and IHREC’s report to CEDAW, pages 54–55 and 62). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken and concrete measures adopted to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation irrespective of race, colour and national extraction; including for migrant workers and members of the Traveller and Roma communities, within the framework of the renewed Migrant Integration Strategy and National Traveller and Roma Integration Strategy (NTRIS) if adopted (please provide a copy), or otherwise; and on the results achieved. In this context, please also indicate the measures specifically targeting women, with a view to address intersectional discrimination.

Enforcement. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its previous comment, notably regarding the funds allocated to the IHREC and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and on their activities aimed at promoting equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation. It also welcomes the publication of a Code of practice on equal pay in March 2022 which seeks to combat pay discrimination based on any of the nine prohibited grounds in the Employment Equality Act (i.e. gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race/colour/nationality or ethnic or national origins, and membership of the Traveller community). The Committee notes that the IHREC, in its July 2023 submission on the review of equality legislation initiated by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY, page 74), called for the introduction of legislation in order to extend the pay gap reporting to all grounds (the pay gap reporting is a positive duty imposed on private sector organisations with over 250 employees to report and publish information relating to their gender pay gap, and, where there is a gap, to explain why and what measures are being taken to reduce it). It also called for urgently developing and rolling out disaggregated equality data collection, processing and communication systems across relevant public bodies – and in particular the Workplace Relations Commission – in order to monitor the effectiveness and impact of the legislation, and that the relevant bodies publish statistics and analysis on an annual basis (pages 85–86). Finally, the Committee also notes that the National Disability Authority supported the Government’s will, announced in March 2022, to develop a National Equality Data Strategy by the Central Statistics Office and the DCEDIY, emphasizing that improvements in equality data would allow for better measurement of the effectiveness of policies and legislation in terms of challenging discrimination, promoting equality and protecting human rights; and a crucial step towards enhancing evidence-informed policy for the effective implementation of Ireland’s international obligations. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) the activities of IHREC and the WRCaimed at promoting equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation; (ii) any progress on the extension of the principle of equal pay to the nine grounds of discrimination which are outlawed by the Employment Equality Acts; and (iii) the development of a National Equality Data Strategy.