Sometimes significant changes happen without a great public fanfare. One such change has been the publication of the Equal Status Bill which marks an important advance in Irish social history. Its publication, and the relative silence with which it was received, suggest that times have changed indeed. It is not all that long since sexual harassment - and the phrase had not even been coined - was something which, all too often, women were expected to put up with. That unpleasant and sometimes deeply distressing form of bullying has been banned by this Bill and by the companion Employment Equality Bill.
Neither is it all that long since people with disabilities were expected to stay at home and be grateful for what they got. Even still, the barriers of prejudice and ignorance - not to mention the physical barriers - which people with disabilities face are - enormous and some, unsurprisingly, shrink from facing them day after day. The Bill bans discrimination against people with disabilities but it goes further and provides for regulations obliging CIE and other bus and rail operators to make their services accessible. The ban on knee jerk discrimination against travellers represents another important step forward. No wonder the Irish Traveller Movement described the day of the Bill's publication as historic.
But all the legislation in the world is pointless without a way of enforcing it which is realistic for people of limited means. Such a way seems to be provided for in the Bill. A Director of Equality Investigations will be appointed to hear complaints and will be able to grant up to £5,000 compensation to people who have been discriminated against. In addition, the Equality Authority will have wide powers to implement this legislation.
For example, it will have the power to issue a non discrimination notice ordering the recipient not to discriminate. These notices will be public documents, in the sense that they will be entered in a register which the public will be entitled to inspect. The authority will also be able to promote the production of codes of good practice for various areas. The importance of these codes, what will make more of them than empty sentiments on paper, is that if they are approved by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform they will be taken into account in court proceedings. The authority may refer cases to the Director of Equality Investigations but it will also be empowered to carry out its own investigations.
The Department of Equality and Law Reform, still a fledgling, can be proud of what it has achieved in getting this Bill published. Added to the Employment Equality Bill, the successful divorce referendum, the publication of the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, the creation of a permanent Council for the Status of People with Disabilities and other pieces of work, it marks this Department as one which has earned its spurs and its keep. Whoever forms the next Government it is essential that they heed the wish of the Commission for the Status of People with Disabilities and keep this Department in existence. There is a great deal of work left for it to do and its track record suggests that, if allowed to, it will continue to do this work sensibly and successfully.