DERN EVENT – NUI GALWAY, 12 th MARCH 2009
SPEAKING NOTES OF DONNCHA O’CONNELL,
SCHOOL OF LAW, NUI GALWAY
[Thank Clionadh and DERN colleagues for invitation to speak at event….]
An economic crisis provides a perfect cover for doing things that might seem unimaginable in other circumstances. We are encouraged to revisit all priorities and, if necessary, to reorder them in a manner that complies with the imperative of rising to the challenge of the economic crisis. The economy – which can be
‘de-peopled’ at the best of times – takes on an almost mathematical life of its own that can be both intellectually and politically disempowering.
In political terms this is extremely useful to those who wish to rid the body politic of irritants but it also presents an opportunity for those of us who refuse to abandon belief in a thing called ‘society’ or to cease imagining stronger forms of social solidarity served by a well-managed economy.
Why do I say this?
Despite the best efforts of Government, some Opposition parties and the media to divide people along socially divisive lines – like public and private sector employment etc – the one coherent demand that has emerged from popular reaction to all fiscal initiatives is the demand for fairness. Great credit is due to people like David Begg of ICTU who has been so responsible in his leadership of the trade union movement - in all its diversity representing public and private sector workers - when the temptations of easy populist demagoguery were so obvious.
The context in which the current economic crisis has manifested itself in Ireland has revealed starkly the hazards of sham
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regulation, cronyism and imprudent banking. The corrupt culture that is not even seen to be corrupt by powerful people in Irish society has been exposed. Some of the people who decried independent economic analysts for ‘talking down the economy’ prior to the official acknowledgment of the recession are now beginning to describe even the most measured criticism of what passes for banking and economic management in this country as
‘unpatriotic’ or irresponsible. This is shameless in the extreme.
But most of the people refuse to be fooled a second time and there is a solid constituency of interests that can combine in opposition to the cynical opportunism of those that might use the current economic crisis as a ruse for all sorts of regressive initiatives.
The decision to cut the budget of the Equality Authority by 43% and transfer many of its staff to an inaccessible outpost in Roscrea was breathtaking in its disproportionality and vindictiveness.
Reassurances given last weekend by the leader of the Green Party that the budgetary situation of the Authority is to be reviewed by
An Bord Snip Nua is cold comfort to those who see the task of that body as one of going out and identifying further opportunities for public spending cuts. To suggest that decentralisation to Roscrea will cease - now that it has taken place - is equally uncomforting, in the absence of any commitment to reverse this utterly pointless and counter-productive decentralisation.
This is not the kind of thing that any self-respecting smaller party of government should try to pass off as a meaningful concession.
In fact, to do so is to fail to be fully honest with those whose interests and rights are directly undermined by the defenestration of the Equality Authority. No one will be fooled by this, we’re not so green!
It’s bad enough that people in government, who might be expected to defend the infrastructure for combating discrimination and advancing equality, fail, but what is to be done when the equality body with a serious and ambitious statutory mandate itself fails to defend, in any effective manner, the very thing it exists to protect? The Equality Authority is now beginning to look like a bunch of well-meaning foxes charged with responsibility for
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minimising discrimination in hen-houses. For it to propose a substantially unmodified strategic plan, as it did last week, as if the budgetary cut of 43% was of no consequence for its ability to deliver on that plan is nothing less than propaganda of a most risible kind. In a context in which we are focusing so strongly on corporate governance issues as they apply to the world of banking it seems to me that similar issues of concern require to be addressed in the sector charged with hugely important issues of social and human protection. I, for one, am not reassured by statements of the Chairperson of the Equality Authority that it is open for business as usual in a context in which its budget has been almost halved. I am saddened by the fact that this kind of PR is given credibility by empty political rhetoric from the Green
Party.
Regardless of the foregoing remarks and the damage done to the infrastructure for realising equality the law on equality remains the same. However, those who wish to vindicate their equality rights will have to be much more resourceful in doing so in the future in the absence of the kind of supports that, heretofore, were provided by the Equality Authority, particularly its Legal Section.
Now might be an opportune time for a new non-governmental organisation that specialises in casework and legal representation to emerge. Private practitioners cannot be relied upon nor, in fairness, expected to do the kind of specialist work that is required to support complainants on a pro bono or ‘no foal no fee’ basis. This is not to diminish the social responsibility of lawyers but rather to protect the interests of clients who deserve high levels of professional service regardless of their means.
With appropriate funding there is no reason why the kind of strategic casework that used to be done by the Equality Authority could not in future be done with just as much independence and professional rigour by a non-governmental organisation. Such a body, to remain effective, would have to be totally independent of the State for its funding so as to operate without predictable impediments in the public interest. Philanthropic organisations that support non-governmental bodies working in the area of equality and human rights should see this as an unanticipated but
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urgent priority essential to the maintenance of an effective infrastructure for protecting equality and human rights in Ireland.
The collapse of market fundamentalism is not necessarily a cause for triumphalism on the part of social democrats. It is, however, a good opportunity for the more ardent market fundamentalists to practice a little modesty. We should analyse the current economic crisis for ourselves and draw our own conclusions. No matter what dysfunctions exist in our democracy there are many ways of combining to effect change. Solidarities between groups that experience discrimination and inequality have to be worked at and should not be taken for granted. Despite the all-pervasive doom pessimism remains the easy option. We must opt for optimism.
Thanks.
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