ERA lodges complaint with EU Commission

10 September 2009

Equality & Rights Alliance has lodged a legal complaint with the European Commission stating that Ireland is in breach of EU equality directives.

ERA members contend that the Irish Government has used the cover of financial cutbacks in public expenditure to mount a targeted attack on Irish Equality and human rights institutions. The savage cuts to the bodies coupled with the accelerated decentralisation programme of the Equality Authority have crucially undermined the ability of the Equality Authority to function as a designated national body under EU equality Directives on race and gender, rendering it unable to effectively fulfill its prescribed functions.

The complaint, lodged Monday 7 September, is supported by the General Secretary of Congress, David Begg, who in a letter to the Commission in support of the ERA complaint, warned of the negative impact of a weakened equality infrastructure on workers in Ireland.

A corresponding petition has been lodged with the European Parliament which is supported by Opposition MEPs.

You can also read an article on the complaint in the Irish Times by Dr Carol Coulter, Legal Editor.