Menu
Ireland's political and cultural magazine
the Equality Authority to heel
— June - July 2010
book on the rise and fall of
Ireland’s Equality Authority (EA), its former
Chief Executive Officer (a somewhat incongru-
ous title - but the irony is lost), Mr Niall Crowley
has revealed more than he intended. He set out
to induce sympathy but has managed instead to
give glaring insights into the EA’s inefficiencies
and petty politics which leave one relieved that
the EA’s role is diminished.
Each recesssion has a silver lining. Without
it, Mr Crowley would still have a job with the EA,
and the ‘Equality Agenda’ would have been pros-
ecuted no matter what the damage. Whatever
hostages are taken on this road to equality
Nirvana is not of any interest to him because,
like all good egalitarians, for Mr Crowley, the
end always justifies the means.
In this meandering, self-absorbed account of
the supposed demise of this shambolic body, the
reader is soon taken into the fairy-tale ‘Land of
Crowley’ where rights are things to be handed
out like confetti, heroes are those that get them
and villains those that are forced to give them
up. He is the Robin Hood of Equality - an ambu-
lance-chaser of rights. Meet our heroines: there
is Mary (not her real name we are told) the ‘activ-
ist’ who seeks the ‘right’ to an extension to her
house (what article is that again?). Then we have
the feisty Phyllis who at decided to buy a new
car (lucky her - maybe she was a civil servant?)
but had then the misfortune to be the only per-
son in Ireland to be refused a loan in the last
years (I bet she is counting her lucky stars now).
She pocketed € for her ‘belittlement’. Then
there is the heartbreaking case of the blind para-
Olympian whose guide dog could not travel due
to ‘foot and mouth’ restrictions. It goes on…
However, soon dark forces appear: a cer-
tain Mr McDowell does not appear to like what
is going on. It is a case of to hell or to Roscrea!
There is talk of ‘cuts’. A ‘coup’ is in the offing and
Ireland’s place in the Pantheon of the Equality
Agenda is under threat. (This must be the first
time in history that a democratically-elected
body has been accused of a coup when it decides
to make cuts on an unelected and highly ineffi-
cient quango - but the irony is lost again).
We learn more about the high-water mark in
the year of in this Brave New World, when
a whopping files were active. He lets slip
that an astonishing % of cases came from
public-sector employees. So we have a public-
ly-funded body being asked to prosecute dis-
crimination against the public sector, with
cases being represented by publicly-funded
lawyers appearing in front of publicly-funded
judges. He then wonders why his agency was
cut! The budget for the EA was a very reason-
able €.m in the author’s eyes. The equality
agenda needed that and more - and a reduc-
tion to €.m was the final straw triggering Mr
Crowley’s resignation. Hence ‘empty promises’.
Again the unintended is revealed. Under the
original budget, that was a cost of over €
per file – a multiple of what it would cost a solic-
itor for the same work. Clearly the concept of
‘value for money’ was lost on Niall. (The rather
crafty and tougher Ms Kerins, his replacement,
is made of sterner stuff).
But all of this is a mere appetiser for the
main course where Mr Crowley lets loose and
lets us in on his real philosophy. The equal-
ity agenda in his scaled-over eyes should be
broadened to economics and pay. Here he is
in good company with the other Cs – Castro
and Chavez. Mr Crowley
suffered in a coup and
now wants to conduct
his own it seems. I
say - bring your ideas
to Venezuela and hasta
luego.
Ultimately this is a
depressing book on the
‘Group Think’ that has
gripped Ireland’s ‘do
good’ establishment. Mr Crowley is undoubt-
edly well-intentioned but his agenda-politics
is so dominant that it never occurs to him to
step back and ask whether this agenda actu-
ally works. Are people becoming less or more
equal? The Labour party in the UK spent bil-
lions on equality and Britain is less equal not
more. This book encapsulates the folly of focus-
ing on equality of outcomes and not equality of
opportunity. Equality should be about putting
a ladder down for those less fortunate to get
ahead. Mr Crowley would never have seen the
world this way as he wandered around with a
well-thumbed Das Kapital and a public-sec-
tor pay cheque in his brief-case. Now he is out
of a job he may have to re-think - like most of
us – and learn the hard way. The ‘empty prom-
ises’ are not the yet-unrealised ambitions of Mr
Crowley, but rather the agenda itself which is
deeply-flawed, anti –democratic and perpetu-
ating of failure.
Empty Promises - Bringing
the Equality Authority to heel
by Niall Crowley, A & A Farmar
review by ciaran mccourt, a lawyer and businessman,
who generally dislikes the ‘equality agenda’
Niall Crowley
“He is the Robin Hood of
Equality - an ambulance-
chaser of rights”.
Equality
Department of
Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs is an
innovation. For the first time a single Department
brings together the related functions of commu-
nity development, equality, social inclusion and
human rights. The equality and human rights
portfolios have usefully been taken from the
Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform
which was never a friendly or compatible loca-
tion for them. The new Minister, Pat Carey TD,
and Minister of State, Mary White TD, both bring
a positive record of engagement with the commu-
nity sector to their brief. Minister Mary White has
announced a review of the Equality Authority and
the Irish Human Rights Commission.
The Department has been established in a
context of severe backlash against equality. The
statutory institutions and community sector
organisations concerned with promoting equal-
ity have been diminished and damaged. Investment
in equality strategies has been stalled or reduced.
The political message has been that equality is not
important. In this context the challenge to the two
Ministers is to secure a new departure for equality
that would give new life to the pursuit of a more
equal Ireland.
There are clear connections between the inclu-
sion and equality portfolios. Poverty and discrim-
ination both operate, often together, to exclude
people from participation in society. Previous
policy responses to poverty and discrimination
have been fragmented. The new Department
should enable an integrated and more effective
approach to equality.
For the first time human rights forms a named
part of a Ministerial brief – that of Minister of
State, Mary White. This affords a valuable status
to human rights issues. It allows for a better articu-
lation of approaches to equality and human rights.
Equality issues form a sub-
set of human rights issues
but the distinct focus on
equality affords it a neces-
sary priority in the context
of a society characterised
by high levels of inequal-
ity and discrimination.
Any new departure must
resist attempts to merge
these two portfolios while
ensuring a coherence to the
pursuit of equality and the
advance of a wider human
rights agenda.
There are risks in the
creation of this Department
that will have to be managed. The dissolution of
the Combat Poverty Agency and the undermining
of the Equality Authority have resulted in a loss of
the expertise that the new Department will need
to draw on. The new Department will have fewer
resources than other mainstream Departments
and could therefore have less clout at the cabinet
table. The Department will need to be organised
so that the portfolios of community development,
human rights, inclusion and equality do not remain
in pre-existing silos, competing for resources.
Institution development is necessary too and
the review of statutory bodies is a valuable start.
A new independent statutory body is now required
to advance equality in all its dimensions – com-
bating poverty and promoting equality in access
to resources, combating discrimination and pro-
moting equality in status for different groups; and
recognising diversity. This would encompass and
go beyond the functions of the old Combat Poverty
Agency and the remains of the Equality Authority.
Legislative development is also key. New equal-
ity legislation will be required to establish the new
integrated body and to ensure its independence.
The Equality and Rights Alliance recently pub-
lished research that raised serious questions
about the effectiveness of the Equality Authority
and the Irish Human Rights Commission since the
October cutbacks. ‘Downgrading Equality
and Human Rights: Assessing the Impact’ was
written by Brian Harvey and Dr Kathy Walsh.
Noting that more attention had been paid, when
establishing them, to the powers of the organisa-
tions than to their independence and structures,
the research concludes that “the independence of
both bodies has been breached”. The main points
were identified as the behind–closed-doors sys-
tem of selection and appointment, accountabil-
ity to government ministers and departments
rather than Parliament, civil service staffing and
lack of financial insulation of budget from the
caprice of government ministers”. Lessons must
be learned.
The new legislation should reflect the inte-
grated approach by including a new ground of
socio-economic status on which discrimination
would be prohibited.
Policy impact-assessment must be included. All
public sector bodies should be required by law to
test out new policies or programmes at design stage
for their potential impact on inclusion, equality and
human rights. This impact-assessment would offer
the new Department a valuable reach into the work
and budgets of mainstream Departments that have
an immediate impact on these issues. It would serve
to secure a coherent cross-departmental approach
to advancing a more equal Ireland.
Great White Hope
A radical new approach is required from the
new Government Equality Department and
its progressive ministers
niall crowley
“The new legislation should
reflect the integrated
approach by including a new
ground of socio-economic
status on which discrimination
would be prohibited”
Pat Carey
