'Worrying trend' of rising far-right voice must be dealt with, says human rights body
Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Sinéad Gibney, also criticised the “two-tier” asylum-seeking system for Ukrainian refugees compared to international protection applicants. File picture: Paul Sharp
The Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said the "worrying trend” of the rising “far-right voice” in Ireland must be dealt with before it takes hold.
At the launch of the IHREC annual report for 2022, Chief Commissioner Sinéad Gibney also criticised the “two-tier” asylum-seeking system for Ukrainian refugees compared to international protection applicants. She said the response has “helped to sow the seeds” for backlash in local communities.
“Despite our warnings, and those of many civil society actors, the emergence of a two-tier system played out in front of our eyes—with Ukraine refugees experiencing a markedly different set of conditions to those in the wider international protection system.
“And despite a mostly positive response to people seeking refuge here for both groups, this disparity in conditions helped to sow the seeds for a backlash in some communities, exploited by a small group within our population who seek to foster fear and hatred,” she said.
Ms Gibney added that the rise of the “far-right voice” in Ireland was a worrying trend and one that must be dealt with before it takes hold in the same way it has in other European countries.
She said the accommodation system for those arriving to seek international protection was already a system under strain and is now “broken”.
Ms Gibney said the IHREC remains “deeply concerned” about the conditions in which many international protection applicants are living, saying it is critical that investment in a permanent system of accommodation that respects rights and dignity is prioritised.
Separately, the IHREC received 1,441 queries from the public relating to human rights and equality law in 2022, with the most queries concerning disability discrimination.
Some 398 queries were received relating to the Equal Status Acts, followed by 233, which concerned the Employment Equality Acts. Some 42% of the public concerns related to the Equal Status Acts focused on discrimination on the grounds of disability.
This was followed by 16% of queries relating to discrimination on the grounds of race, while 8% focused on gender. Another 8% of queries relating to the Equal Status Acts concerned people discriminated against based on age.
The top public concerns under the Employment Equality Acts focused on discrimination in employment and job seeking on the grounds of disability (39%), gender (16%), race (12%) and age (12%).
Some 425 queries concerning human rights were received in 2022, with the top three public concerns focusing on asylum and immigration (22%), homelessness, social housing and living conditions (16%), and health and bodily integrity (12%).
Ms Gibney said the housing crisis persisted and “even deepened” throughout the year while rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis put pressure on large sections of Irish society “to simply make ends meet”. “People who were unable to work due to illness or disability were and remain more at risk of poverty,” she said.
