Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2004
171 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether his recent public characterisation of the Equality Authority as a ginger group was an inappropriate way for a Minister responsible for equality in the State to describe the statutory agency charged with giving effect to the State’s equality legislation; and if he will withdraw his comment on that basis. [17106/04]
View answerThe Equality Authority has a statutory function to work towards the elimination of discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity. I described the Equality Authority as "a Statutory Body and a Ginger Group", not in any way to disparage or undervalue the work of the authority, but in recognition of the robust, highly active, pioneering approach taken by the authority and its CEO in promoting possible new policy initiatives for the equality agenda. The authority is independent of me and there will necessarily be occasions on which the authority and the Minister of the day will not agree on all of the authority's proposals.
172 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for his public assertion that social equality and a rights-based society will lead to feudalism; if he will give an example of a feudal society that was egalitarian in structure; and if he will give an example of a feudal society that was rights-based in the sense as understood in the 21st century. [17107/04]
View answerMost people would acknowledge that in any society, flexibility, choice, dynamism, and the general freedom to act and to innovate are qualities which provide the climate for change, growth, wealth creation, and social and cultural development. This is by no means to suggest that a society which is devoid of any system of enforceable rights, or has only a primitive rights regime, can reasonably expect to be regarded by its own citizens, or by the world at large, as an enlightened or liberal society nor is it reasonable to regard a society that is characterised by an unremitting search for codified restrictions on the freedoms of its citizens as one that is liberal, enlightened or in any sense likely to serve the better interests of its citizens, including their overall economic interests.
Like most things in life, it is a matter of finding the right balance. I believe that it does no disservice to the worthy objective of advancing equality in society to point out that, unless that endeavour is characterised by reason and common sense and unless we are free to ask whether each and every identified right requires statutory clothing, the society, in the end, will tend to suffer rather than gain. Put another way, there is always a potential trade-off between two different forms of equality, namely, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.
