Publications

In the near twenty years since the enactment of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (‘EPSEN’) Act 2004, which is intended to provide for the education of all students in an inclusive environment, significant parts of this legislation are not in force including assessments of a student’s educational needs and the development of…

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission report on the Experiences of Second-Generation Ethnic Minority Young People in Ireland, authored by Dr Malgosia Machowska-Kosiack and Dr Maria Barry from Dublin City University revealed that racism and discrimination form the daily experiences of many Second-Generation young people.

This parallel report is informed by the Commission’s Strategy Statement 2022-2024 and our prioritisation of the following areas within the context of our work: Economic equality; Justice; Respect and recognition (including through the eradication of racism, ableism, ageism and sexism); Futureproofing; and the Public Sector Duty. We welcome the first baseline evaluation of Ireland’s implementation…

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is Ireland’s national human rights institution and makes these submissions to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers under Rule 9(2) of the Rules for the Supervision of the Execution of Judgments and of the Terms of Friendly Settlements with regard to the execution of the judgment of the…

This is an additional submission, by the Commission, to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (‘the Committee’), in advance of the review of Ireland’s combined fifth and sixth periodic reports during the 92nd session in January 2023. The purpose of this submission is to update the Committee on relevant factual information and developments…

In October 2020, the Commission was designated as Ireland’s Independent National Rapporteur on the Trafficking of Human Beings. This accords with the obligation set forth in Article 19 of the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Directive that introduced a legally binding requirement for all EU Member States to establish National Rapporteurs or equivalent mechanisms. The development of a…

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (‘the Commissions’) have published their Annual Joint Report, their first since the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. Download report here: Equality and rights on the island of Ireland after Brexit Equality and…

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (‘the Commission’) has argued before the High Court that a State requirement for survivors of historic sexual abuses in schools to have taken legal proceedings against the State before 1 July 2021 – proceedings that, would be doomed to fail — “is indefensible.” The Commission is amicus curiae…