An attitude of seeking favours rather than asserting rights was built into the Irish political system, according to film-maker and author Gerry Stembridge.
He was launching An Ambition for Equality, by the chief executive of the Equality Authority, Niall Crowley, in Dublin last night. The book is the first of a series, "Law in Controversy", edited by Donncha O'Connell and Mike Milotte, being published by Irish Academic Press.
Stembridge urged the audience to consider "the psychological effects of 80 years of sustained clientelism on Irish society". Rights were seen as abstract, he said, while favours were seen as what really got things done.
He said Mr Crowley and the Equality Authority had challenged that mentality, and the author clearly had no intention of allowing the Equality Authority to become another branch of the clientelist system.
Mr Crowley said he agreed to write the book because he felt it was important to tell the story of the Equality Authority, what its achievements were over the past five years and what lay ahead.
He pointed out that only 40 per cent of those with a chronic or long-term disability are in work, compared with 70 per cent of the population at large; women's earnings are still 17.5 per cent behind those of men; and there was continued discrimination against various categories of people, including those in gay and lesbian relationships.
Further evolution of a strategic framework for equality is necessary, he said. Initiatives such as the Strategic Management Initiative in the public service were chances to ensure equality considerations were integrated into the provision of services.
Mr Crowley qualified as an engineer. "But I would always have carried a concern with issues of social justice," he said. "For a long time this was looking for an outlet. It got it when I went to Mozambique to work as an engineer with APSO in 1982, and stayed four years."