Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and Daft Media Limited Set Aside Legal Action, and Daft agree to roll out Procedures to ensure no Discriminatory Property Advertisements

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (the 'Commission') and Daft Media Limited (‘Daft’) have reached agreement in relation to property advertisements that are potentially in breach of equality legislation. This follows from a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) decision, dated 6 August 2019, which ruled in favour of the Commission, and subsequent engagement between the Commission and Daft. Daft has agreed to withdraw its appeal against the Workplace Relations Commission’s decision. Daft has agreed to expand and develop practical methods to identify, investigate, review and take down discriminatory advertising on the Daft.ie website, and has also committed to reviewing and, where necessary, improving the system on a continuous basis. The Commission welcomes this positive development, as it will dispense with the requirement for recourse to the Courts in this appeal, and will help improve compliance with Ireland’s equality law. Sinéad Gibney, Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, stated:

“The Commission welcomes Daft’s engagement in this matter and the resolution of this long-standing litigation. We took the initial proceedings in 2016 as the Commission had identified a number of adverts that discriminated on the housing (‘HAP’), age and family status grounds of the Equal Status Acts.” “The procedures that Daft will operate must help to ensure that discriminatory advertising does not appear on the website of one of Ireland’s leading property advertisers.”

ENDS/ For further information, please contact: Karen Joynt, IHREC 087 448 2963 Karen.Joynt@ihrec.ie Visit our website www.ihrec.ie or follow us on twitter @_IHREC

Notes to Editor:

Relevant sections of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 Section 23 of the Equal Status Acts provides that the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission enjoys a power to refer a complaint of discriminatory advertising to the Director of the Workplace Relations Commission. Section 12 of the Equal Status Acts prohibits discriminatory advertising.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is an independent public body, appointed by the President and directly accountable to the Oireachtas. The Commission has a statutory remit set out under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) to protect and promote human rights and equality in Ireland, and build a culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding in the State. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is Ireland’s national equality body for the purpose of a range of EU anti-discrimination measures. The Commission is also Ireland’s national human rights institution and is recognised as such by the United Nations.