FLAC Submits Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW”) in support of its Eighth Review of Ireland

• FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW”) to support its Eighth Review of Ireland.
• The Report makes specific recommendations for State action in the areas of equality and non-discrimination, access to justice, and constitutional rights.
• The 91^st session of CEDAW will take place from 16 June to 4 July 202, at which NGOs will present on the key issues facing women’s rights in their countries.
• FLAC’s full report to CEDAW in support of its Eighth Review of Ireland can be found here.

FLAC has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW”) in support of its Eighth Review of Ireland. This is in advance of CEDAW’s 91^st session this summer, at which the CEDAW Committee will consider Ireland’s State Report on the progress that has been made to promote women’s rights in Ireland.

FLAC’s Report was informed by our experience of promoting gender equality and access to justice for women and girls across various areas of our work. As the majority of callers to FLAC’s Telephone Information and Referral Line are women, FLAC provides thousands of women with early legal information and advice each year. FLAC also frequently provides legal representation to women who have suffered discrimination, many of whom experience intersectional discrimination where the combination of their identity as a woman and a second marginalised identity of theirs has resulted in discriminatory treatment.

In the report, FLAC drew from its earlier submission to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth to inform a new National Strategy for Women and Girls. That submission emphasises that equality and non-discrimination, access to justice, and human rights must be pillars of the new strategy. The full submission can be found here.

The report made a number of recommendations across key areas of concern for FLAC in the area of women’s rights and gender equality:

Equality/Non-Discrimination

• The State should commit to a comprehensive programme of law reform on foot of the Review of the Equality Acts. New equality legislation should:

• Expand the ‘family status’ ground to be more inclusive of carers.
• Strengthen the obligations to provide reasonable accommodation to people with disabilities.
• Remove the compensation caps for discrimination claims brought to the Workplace Relations Commission.
• Remove procedural barriers such as the two-month ‘notification requirement’ for complaints under the Equal Status Acts.
• Provide for a civil remedy for discriminatory hate speech.
• Explicitly prohibit intersectional discrimination.
• Add a ‘disadvantaged socio-economic status’ ground to the equality legislation.
• Bring key areas for the promotion of socio-economic equality – such as social housing, healthcare, social welfare, and education – clearly within the scope of the equality legislation.
• Ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics in order to protect all trans and non-binary people.
• In 2017, CEDAW adopted FLAC’s recommendation for Ireland to “amend section 14 of the Equal Status Acts… to ensure that an effective remedy is available for discrimination that has a legislative basis.” The State should implement this recommendation without further delay.

Access to Justice/Legal Aid

• The State should:
  • Provide access to early legal information, advice, and advocacy in areas which are particularly relevant to combatting discrimination and disadvantage.
  • Expand the scheme of civil legal aid to provide legal representation in areas such as employment, discrimination, social welfare, and social housing law.
  • Provide access to legal assistance for parties to mediation in family law cases.
  • Remove the legal aid means test in cases concerning domestic violence.
  • Introduce a ‘passporting’ system for those in receipt of social assistance payments which would allow them to access legal aid without undergoing a means test or paying financial contributions.
  • Commit to a participatory process for the reform and simplification of court rules, forms, and procedures.
  • Introduce a publicly-available Equal Treatment Bench Book.

Gender Equality in the Constitution

• The State should:
  • Respond to the public demand for clear and enforceable social rights that impose meaningful obligations on the State which emerged from the 2024 ‘family’ and ‘care’ referendums.
  • Commit to an ‘equality’ referendum. A new equality guarantee should include a gender ground, should reflect the experience of intersectionality, and should allow for strong positive action.

The 91^st session of CEDAW will take place from 16 June to 4 July 2025 at the Palais des Nations. At the session, a number of civil society and non-governmental organisations will be given the opportunity to brief the CEDAW Committee on key issues in respect of women’s rights in their respective countries.