Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa has said a key amendment to a new European equality directive approved by the European Parliament in Brussels this morning requiring 'an independent functioning and adequately funded' Equality Authority, 'ups the ante' on the Government over the 43 per cent cut it made to the Authority's budget last December.

Mr De Rossa said: "This new EU directive seeks to tackle discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in the provision of commercial and professional goods and services (e.g. health care, education, housing etc) outside the workplace. Previous directive only covered discrimination in the workplace on these grounds.

"Article 12 of this directive requires the Government to designate a national body to promote equal treatment of all persons irrespective of their religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Under other, existing European equality legislation (the Race directive), this function is performed in Ireland by the Equality Authority.

"However, in approving this particular clause the EP inserted a key amendment specifically stating that such bodies had to be 'independently functioning and adequately funded'. This is an important new provision and one designed precisely to stop Governments from undermining these national bodies, as the Irish Government has done.

"In answering questions I tabled in the EP last December about the impact of the 43 per cent cut in relation to Ireland's obligations under the Race directive, the European Commission said that a budget cut in itself does not constitute a breach of the directive 'unless it is so significant as to make it impossible for the equality body to function', adding that bodies like the Equality Authority 'should in general have sufficient resources to perform all their tasks'.

"The Commission made this statement before Niall Crowley resigned as CEO of the Equality Authority precisely because, in his belief, 'the Equality Authority has been rendered unviable' and has been 'fatally compromised’ by the cuts and the decentralisation plans. The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern this week confirmed that he does not intend to restore the budget.

"Before these cuts were made, the Commission had already issued the Government with a formal warning concerning its failure to live up to its commitments under EU equality legislation. 
  

EP resolution