Ireland ‘not immune’ from rights pressures
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) says that Ireland is not immune to global pressures on the international human-rights system.
Chief commissioner Liam Herrick says that the multilateral institutions established in the aftermath of World War II are under strain, due to armed conflicts, rising authoritarianism, attacks on the rule of law, and growing hostility towards minority communities.
Writing in IHREC’s annual report for 2025, Herrick states that progress on equality is “stalling in some places and reversing in others”.
‘Polarisation’ warning
While acknowledging that Ireland remains a strong democracy with a robust legal framework for the protection of rights, he warns about the challenges to social cohesion presented by “growing economic inequality, housing insecurity, rising levels of hate and discrimination, and increasing polarisation in public debate”.
Stressing the importance of implementation, Herrick says that, while Ireland has often shown leadership in articulating human-rights principles, both domestically and internationally, the task now is to ensure that those commitments are translated into meaningful outcomes.
“Rights must be accessible in practice and realised in people’s daily lives, not merely recognised in principle,” he warns.
Survey’s equality figure falls
The report includes findings from IHREC’s annual survey of more than 1,200 adults, which shows that the percentage of people who agree that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of who they are or where they come from, fell from 84% in 2024 to 80% last year.
The poll finds that 62% of respondents agree that they have equal opportunities – a marginal decrease since 2024, with 21% disagreeing with this sentiment.
Two in five respondents thought that efforts made in Ireland to fight all forms of discrimination were effective, with 28% saying that the efforts were not effective.
“Perceived ineffectiveness has increased year-on-year, with females, those aged 18-24 and those who have experienced racism or discrimination in the past 12 months being less likely to say that efforts have been successful,” the report states.
Discrimination
According to the survey, 16% of those with a self-reported disability said that they had directly experienced discrimination in the past 12 months – up six percentage points since last year.
The figure for those who had experienced racism in the past 12 months rose from 10% in 2024 to 14% last year and jumped to 66% for non-white Irish people.
Just over 30% of respondents had directly witnessed racism in the past year.