Civil rights in Ireland...

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President Obama reigns supreme – but where does Ireland stand on equality?

(John Ryan, November 2008)

Finally, America sees the light and elects a black President – Barack Obama. So, now that the dust has settled and a Clinton will also be back in the White House, we can acknowledge it’s not just a great day for America, but for the world also. President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural speech, on 20^th January 1961, famously said “All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the lifetime of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin”. In June 1963 he introduced his Civil Rights Bill although, as we know, he never got to see it pass as he was assassinated shortly afterwards (the bill was passed in 1965). So, we can applaud America, but out of the other 200 or so countries in the World, where do we stand?

Well, in January 1918, women over the age of 30 voted in a general election for the first time - Ireland was only the 14^th Country in the World to give women the vote. In December of that year, Countess Markievicz became the first women ever to be elected as an MP to the British House of Commons, although, as a member of Sinn Féin, she did not take her seat!

The Irish Constitution (warts and all) was passed in a referendum on the 1st July 1937 and included some fantastic pieces of legislation whilst removing references to the Oath of Allegiance, appeals to the Privy Council, the British Crown and the Governor General. It had provision for our civil rights and liberties, including; Equality before the law (as we know not quite there yet), The state is bound to protect "the personal rights of the citizen"; Inviolability of the home; Freedom of speech, assembly worship and association;

The state must not endow any religion and the state may not discriminate on religious grounds. In regards to those in prison, the death penalty is prohibited’ a trial for a serious offence must usually be before a jury and whilst a prisoner is in jail when the prisoner has done their “time” they can still vote – u

nlike many countries that restrict prisoners rights even after they have paid their debt to society.

Homosexuality was formally decriminalised in 1993. This was the result of a campaign by Senator David Norris and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, which led to a ruling in 1988 that Irish laws prohibiting homosexual activities were in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform was founded in the 1970s to fight for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, its founding members including Senator Norris and current and former President of Ireland Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson.

The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989 outlaws incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation whilst in latter years 3 pieces of legislation were enacted, the Employment Equality Act 1998 came into force on the 18th October 1999, and was amended on the 25th October 2004 by the Equality Act 2004 and Equal Status Act 2000 came into force on the 25th October 2000 giving us further protections, so, all in all, not too bad.

However, the Irish government have fallen somewhat short in the last 10 years, continuing to allow America to use Shannon as a stop off point whilst bringing people who have been detained without a trial for an undetermined amount of time to Guantánamo Bay (Gitmo for short, you know how the yanks like to simplify everything – somewhat like most of them) for certain torture.

Ireland continues to deny LGBT full equality and instead offers snippets of equality when they need a few extra votes – dog licences here we come.

Specifically, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service still will not take donations from males who have ever had anal or oral sex with another male, even if a condom or other form of protection was used and even though the IBTS publicly admit this is clearly discriminatory, they still have not taken their finger out, Ireland is the only country in the EU that refuses to legally recognise gender change. There is at present a case being taken by Dr Lydia Foy to have her new gender legally recognised. On 19th October 2007 Dr. Foy won her case in the High Court to get a birth certificate in her female gender however this is being challenged by the government.

Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail) have recently put back up posters in train stations banning same-sex couples from travelling on their free passes even though in 2003 an Equality Authority tribunal ruled in favour of a gay couple who claimed CIE -- the parent company of Irish Rail -- was discriminatory in its free-travel pass scheme on the basis of sexual orientation. The Tanaiste Mary Coughlan is the person responsible for this.

So, lets get out there and fight for equality. And I am not going to use the word “full equality” as equality is not debatable. You either have equality or you do not. Its black and white, right and wrong. So, start by talking to the EAGLE committee and talking to your local politicians and businesses. Lets start naming and shaming those who are not for equality and lets start honouring those who are.

(John Ryan, November ’08)