The creation of a Department of Equality and Law Reform has enabled the Government to profile equality policy in a priority format which might otherwise not be achieved.
Prior to the setting up of my Department the Minister for Labour had responsibility for gender equality issues relating to employment. This entailed not only formulation and implementation of anti-discrimination employment equality law but, in addition, promotion of equal opportunities policy.
My Department has taken over these responsibilities and, in line with Government policy, the role of the Department goes beyond gender equality to address a whole range of non-gender groups based on age, religion, sexual orientation, people with disability, race/nationality/ethnic origin and membership of the travelling community.
My intention is not only to improve employment equality legislation as regards gender but also to introduce statutory and non-statutory measures to expedite equal opportunity progress.
The equal status Bill, which I also intend to introduce, will deal with discrimination in non-employment areas on a number of grounds including gender, marital or parental status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, colour, nationality and national or ethnic origin and membership of the travelling community. The areas in question include education, the provision of goods, services and facilities, and the disposal of accommodation or other premises. The legislation will help to promote equality and combat the exclusion of some groups of people from certain areas of Irish life.
A committee chaired by my Department monitors the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and a second annual progress report on this will be published in the first half of the year.
My Department also services a range of international activity on equality matters. In 1993, I established the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities. The commission's task is to advise the Government on practical measures necessary to ensure that people with a disability can participate, to the fullest extent of their potential, in economic, social and cultural life. The commission is also examining the current situation of people with a disability and the organisation and adequacy of existing services, both public and voluntary, to meet their needs. It will make recommendations setting out necessary changes to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are met in a cohesive, comprehensive and cost-effective way.
Last year, the commission engaged in the most comprehensive consultative exercise with people with disabilities in the history of the State. It organised well-attended public meetings throughout the country at which people with disabilities, parents, carers, service-providers and other interested parties told the commission directly what changes they believed were needed to address what they saw as inequalities in relation to their situation. The commission has also received over 500 submission from the public.
The commission is due to present its report by the end of the year. I will give it very careful consideration with a view to bringing proposals to Government, based on its recommendations.
In July 1993, I established a Task Force on the Travelling Community. It is examining a large number of important and complex issues which impact on travellers in policy areas such as accommodation, health, housing and employment and training opportunities.
The task force is expected to finish its work within a matter of months. I look forward to receiving its final report and to considering, in consultation with ministerial colleagues, the views and recommendations contained therein with a view to removing some of the inequalities in treatment which travellers experience at present.
I am determined to improve access to the courts and to other means of resolving disputes, particularly in the family law area. In the 1995 Estimate for my Department I have secured significant funding for legal aid, marriage counselling and guidance services, and for mediation, all with a view to expansion and development in these areas. I have also recently initiated the Civil Legal Aid Bill which puts the scheme of civil legal aid and advice on a statutory footing and, in effect, guarantees the future of that scheme.
In addition, I am providing for other developments designed to improve access to justice. The Family Law Bill, 1994, for example, contains important new provisions in relation to jurisdiction of the courts. The Bill provides a comprehensive framework within which extensive remedies can be secured through the courts by spouses and children who face the consequences of marriage breakdown. The District and Circuit Courts will have new jurisdiction to order maintenance, by way of lump sums and secured payments and the District Court, for the first time, will have jurisdiction to make orders to protect a spouse from having the family home sold over his or her head. At present, that jurisdiction is confined to the higher courts.
While all Government Ministers share responsibilities for promoting employment equality policy in their respective Departments agencies, and areas of competence, I will continue to monitor and support any initiatives and developments that can achieve progress.
I am reluctant to attempt identifying priorities, since each area is a priority in its own right. There is also the consideration that any order of priorities requires constant review and adjustment, in the light of changing circumstances, particularly where legislation is involved.
I prefer to adopt a pragmatic approach by maintaining pressure on all fronts, with a view to making whatever progress is feasible at any given time.