Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has promised that if elected to government, his party would put the issue of equality at the top of the political agenda. He maintained the issue was not a priority for the current Government.
"The decision of the Labour Party on entering government in 1992 to insist on the creation of a separate department of equality and law reform provided the platform for the most sustained period of assault on inequality in the history of the State.
"Apart from the referendum to remove the constitutional prohibition on divorce, Mervyn Taylor, as minister for equality and law reform, also published the groundbreaking Equal Status Bill and the Employment Equality Bill," said Mr Rabbitte.
He said the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition had committed a serious policy error by abolishing the department of equality and law reform in 1997 and burying the equality issue in the bowels of the Department of Justice.
"To make matters worse after the 2002 general election, they appointed Michael McDowell as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It was inevitable that with McDowell at the helm, the whole issue would slide down the agenda. It was duly hived off to a junior Minister who has no authority, no influence and no seat at the Cabinet table.
"If anyone is in any doubt about how far the equality issue has fallen down the political agenda, they should look at the transcript of the exchanges in the Dáil on Wednesday when I raised the plight of a group of special needs children and their parents from Co Louth," said Mr Rabbitte.
