In a presentation at the Age Action event on Monday 30th September to mark the day, Niall Crowley, Chief Executive Officer of the Equality Authority highlighted the importance of “promoting a focus on ageism and age discrimination in our society. These are all too often invisible. Yet they result in a very visible exclusion of older people”.
Discrimination against older people is an ongoing reality in the casework of the Equality Authority.
- Under the Employment Equality Act 5% of the casefiles relate to age discrimination, predominantly in relation to older people. The two key issues are access to employment and promotion within employment
- Under the Equal Status Act 9 % of the casefiles relate to age discrimination, in relation to older people and younger people. Access to insurance is a key issue as is access to pubs and hotels, banking facilities and general services.
Commenting on this casework Niall Crowley highlighted that “it is clear that significant negative stereotypes of older people abound. People are viewed in terms of their chronological age and not in terms of their capacity, their needs or their ambitions. Discrimination results”. He stated that as “a consciousness of rights grows among older people and a confidence to exercise these rights, greater numbers are likely to avail of the equality legislation to address their experiences”.
Niall Crowley stated that “the current moment has much more to offer older people”. He highlighted:-
- “Our equality legislation which includes an age ground and which puts us ahead of the rest of Europe in this regard and the importance of removing the upper age limit of 65 that applies in the Employment Equality Act so as to reflect the presence of people beyond the age of 65 in the workplace
- The work being carried out by the Nation Economic and Social Forum with Government Departments to support implementation of the Equality Authority report ‘Implementing Equality for Older People’ and the importance of a positive and creative response from Government Departments.
- The political will to improve the situation of older people which is evident in the Programme for Government and the role of such political will as the cornerstone around which necessary action must now be built”.
Ends
