What is race and racism
Race is a protected ground under Irish equality legislation.
The Council of Europe defines racism as:
"the belief that a ground such as “race”, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin justifies contempt for a person or a group of persons, or the notion of superiority of a person or a group of persons."
What has racism got to do with human rights and equality?
Many people In Ireland face racism every day.
Laws, policies and actions can lead to inequality for people due to their race. They do not get to enjoy the same rights as everyone else in education, health, work, housing, and in other areas of Irish society.
Are there laws about racism
Ireland has a number of laws to address race and racism, and has signed a number of international treaties on racism:
- The Equal Status Acts and the Employment Equality Acts protect against discrimination on the basis of race in Ireland.
- Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989
- Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024
- The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination sets out actions to end racial discrimination.
- The Standards of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance provide recommendations on actions to address racism
What is IHREC doing on race and racism
We have focused on race and racism in many areas of our work including:
We ran a public awareness campaign in 2020-2021 challenging individual and societal attitudes that lead to people from different ethnic backgrounds experiencing racism.
In 2024, we made a submission to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance ahead of their monitoring visit to Ireland.
We made recommendations in 2021 for Ireland’s National Action Plan Against Racism.
We have commented on the legislation concerning hate speech and hate crime.
All Against Racism
The #AllAgainstRacism national awareness campaign aims to inform attitudes towards people from different ethnicities living in Ireland.
Watch as 11 people from across Ireland talk about the impact of racism.
