Ireland may be brought before the European Court of Justice if it fails to fully implement EU law banning descrimination on the the grounds of race or ethnic origin, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said today.
Publishing its annual report for 2006, the civil rights body said the Government should have fully implemented the EU's Race Equality Directive by 2003.
However, in common with 13 other EU member states, Ireland has just received a "reasoned opinion" from the European Commission stating that it has failed to implement the directive correctly, the ICCL said.
This is the second step of formal EU infringement procedures. Ireland has two months to respond to the Commission and may be taken to the European Court of Justice if it fails at that stage to correctly transpose the directive into the legal system here.
Among the problems identified by the Commission are an incorrect definition in Irish law of "indirect discrimination". Ireland also excludes certain types of "private" employment from discrimination laws, in contravention of Article 3 of the EU's Race Equality Directive.
According to the Commission, Ireland also fails to protect people against victimisation in certain employment sectors and there is also a limit to compensation for those who are the victims of discrimination.
Speaking in Dublin to mark the publication of the annual report, ICCL director Mark Kelly noted that this year is European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.
He said action by the Government to "fully implement this important EU Directive is already four years overdue".
"The EU's equality laws play a vital part in combating discrimination in jobs, schools, shops, housing and healthcare and it is high time that the Government acted to ensure that the Race Equality Directive is fully effective in practice. The ICCL will continue to campaign to ensure that this is the case."
The European Commission sent its reasoned opinion to the Government and 13 other member states on June 27th. The other countries are Spain, Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia.