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TITLE: IRELAND HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995
IRELAND
The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with a
long tradition of orderly transfer of power. The Constitution
and Supreme Court decisions protect individual rights. The
Government and an independent judiciary traditionally respect
and protect these rights.
The Government controls the police and the armed forces. The
spillover of violence from Northern Ireland led to legislation
in 1984 that increased police power to detain and interrogate
suspected terrorists. The police have shown great restraint in
exercising these powers.
The economy is based largely on free enterprise. It performed
well in 1994, and the rate of unemployment declined.
Human rights problems within Ireland arise primarily from the
substandard prison conditions (especially the lack of separate
facilities for women and for children), the lack of a coherent
policy on refugees and asylum, and discrimination against and
abuse of women and children.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of political or other extrajudicial
killings.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading punishment, and there were no reports of violations.
However, in many prisons conditions are barely tolerable, due
to overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, or lack of other
facilities. There are no suitable prisons for women, and a
lack of separate areas for young people results in 14- and
15-year-olds being mixed in with adult prisoners. The
Government has indicated it hopes the overcrowding will be
eased by the anticipated early release of prisoners as a result
of the peace process in Northern Ireland, and by a planned new
large prison. On the other hand, it has shown no intention of
significantly increasing its funding for prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution stipulates that no person shall be deprived of
personal liberty without due process under the law. It
requires that arresting authorities make written explanation to
a court about the suspect, and that the court determine the
legality of the detention. The Criminal Justice Act of 1951,
as amended in 1984, stipulates that "as soon as reasonably
possible" the police must bring an arrested person before a
justice of the district court or, if none is available, before
a peace commissioner. The Government and the courts fully
respect these provisions.
Detention without a charge is permitted for up to 48 hours in
cases covered by the Offenses Against the State Act of 1939,
which aims to "prevent actions and conduct calculated to
undermine public order and the authority of the State." This
Act allows police to arrest and detain for questioning anyone
suspected of any terrorist offense involving firearms,
explosives, membership in an unlawful organization, or
malicious damage to property. A person arrested under this Act
may be held, without a charge, for up to 24 hours, and for a
further 24 hours if a chief superintendent or still
higher-ranking police officer so directs. A detainee who is
not charged within the 48-hour maximum period must be released
upon its expiry.
The Criminal Justice Act of 1984 empowers the police to detain
for up to 12 hours anyone under reasonable suspicion of having
committed a crime. The authorities do not impose incommunicado
detention or exile.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for fair public trial, and the legal
system honors this. The accused generally may choose his or
her attorney. For indigents, the State assumes the cost.
The courts are independent, and jury trial is the norm.
However, the Constitution provides for the creation of "special
courts" to deal with cases in which the "ordinary courts are
inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice
and the preservation of public peace and order" (e.g., due to a
likelihood of terrorist intimidation of those courts). The
Offenses Against the State Act authorizes use of special courts
for offenses against national security, particularly cases of
political violence. In lieu of juries, these courts have
panels consisting of an odd number of judges (at least three)
whose verdicts are by majority vote. Rules of evidence are
essentially the same as in regular courts except that the sworn
statement of a police chief superintendent identifying the
accused as a member of an illegal organization is accepted as
prima facie evidence. Sessions of special courts are usually
public but the judge may exclude certain persons, other than
journalists; appeal of exclusion can be made only through a
separate judicial proceeding. In 1994 there were 15 special
court trials, resulting in conviction of 20 defendants.
In cases of certain other types of offenses (e.g., sexual), the
judge in a regular court may exclude any or all persons except
officers of the court, lawyers, or journalists, ostensibly to
protect the reputations of persons involved in the trial.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Supreme Court has affirmed that, although not specifically
provided for in the Constitution, the inviolability of personal
privacy, family, and home must be respected in law and
practice; and the Government honors this.
However, the Constitution provides that the State shall enact
no law permitting divorce. A 1986 nationwide referendum
overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to amend the Constitution to
permit divorce in limited circumstances. In the same year, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled that the prohibition of
divorce is not a breach of the European Convention on Human
Rights, to which Ireland is a party. The Government has
pledged to hold another referendum on divorce, which now seems
likely to occur in 1995.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for these freedoms, and the
Government fully respects them. The law prohibits publication
or utterance of "blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter";
enforcement of this is directed almost exclusively against
pornographic material.
The state-owned radio and television network has traditionally
denied airtime to members of certain blacklisted political
organizations, even lawful ones, under the 1960 Broadcasting
Act. The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of
this policy. The Provisional Sinn Fein (the legal front of the
illegal Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was long among
the excluded organizations, but when the ban on it expired in
January, the Government decided not to renew this.
Broadcasting is mostly state-controlled. A Broadcasting
Complaints Commission oversees standards and investigates
complaints about programming. The State does not control
newspapers, and no legislation regulates them per se.
Academic freedom is respected.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
These freedoms are provided for by the Constitution, and the
Government respects them even as regards groups associated with
illegal terrorist organizations. Membership in the illegal
organizations is punishable by imprisonment for up to 7 years.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government does not hamper the teaching or practice of any
faith.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
There is complete freedom of movement within the country, as
well as freedom to engage in foreign travel, emigration, and
voluntary repatriation.
The Alien Act of 1935 gives the Justice Minister unlimited
discretion in regard to treatment of all aliens, including
those who qualify for refugee status under international law.
The authorities have accepted asylum seekers only on a limited
case-by-case basis, and have held them in detention in some
cases for over a year before rendering a decision.
Some asylum seekers have been turned back upon arrival. The
police have completed the report requested by the Justice
Minister on a 1992 incident in which they violently forced a
group of 27 Kurdish men, women, and children--injuring
many--back onto an aircraft at Shannon Airport, and denied them
access to an interpreter, to a lawyer, and to a representative
of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The report has not
yet been released, pending the outcome of court action.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
A constitutional requirement that elections be held at least
every 5 years has always been met. Suffrage is universal for
citizens over age 18, and balloting is secret. Several
political parties have seats in the bicameral Parliament.
Members of the Dail--the chamber that carries out the main
legislative functions--are popularly elected; in the Senate,
some members are elected and some are appointed by various
bodies. The President is popularly elected for a 7-year term,
and is limited to two terms. An appointed Council of State
serves as an advisory body to the President.
Women number only 20 of the 166 deputies in the Dail; 8 of the
60 senators; and 2 of the 15 ministers. Of the 15 junior
ministers, 3 are women. While women participate in all
departments of government, they are underrepresented at senior
levels. Official data show that at year's end women held 30
percent of all public-sector jobs.
Section 4 Government Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
The principal independent organization monitoring domestic
human rights issues, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties,
operates without hindrance from the Government. The Government
is similarly open to investigation of human rights abuses by
international or nongovernmental organizations.
However, most independent critiques of human rights in Ireland
have focused on the overcrowding and other conditions in the
prisons, and the Government has generally ignored their
recommendations.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Except as regards employment, neither the Constitution nor the
law prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, race,
sex, language, or social status. The Constitution, as amended,
forbids state preferment of one religion over another and
discrimination on the grounds of religious profession, belief,
or status.
Women
Working women are discriminated against as regards pay and
promotions, in both the public and the private sectors, and
many are also hampered by inadequate child-care facilities. In
1990 the Government established the Second Commission on the
Status of Women, which published its recommendations in early
1993; the Government pledged to implement them, including a
requirement that at least 40 percent of all public appointees
be women.
The Antidiscrimination (Pay) Act of 1974 and the Employment
Equality Act of 1977 provide for protection and redress against
discrimination based on gender. The Employment Equality Agency
monitors their operation. The number of cases has fallen in
recent years, but progress in eliminating the differential in
earnings has been very modest. In 1994 the hourly industrial
wage for women was 60 percent of what men received and their
weekly earnings averaged 68 percent of men's weekly pay.
There have been no systematic studies of violence against
women, but indications are that it is widespread. In 1994 the
Rape Crisis Center, a private organization, received some 5,000
telephone calls. The Center estimates that only 30 percent of
rape victims report the crime to the police, and that only 10
percent of those go to trial. A 1990 act criminalized rape
within marriage, and provided for free legal advice to the
victim. In addition to rape and other sexual abuse, beatings
of women are common.
Children
The Status of Children Act of 1987 abolished the concept of
illegitimacy and provided for equal rights for children in all
legal proceedings. There are no reliable data on enforcement,
or on societal treatment of children, but it is believed that
child abuse is common. In recent years, sexual abuse of
children has been receiving increased media attention.
People with Disabilities
There is no legislation to protect disabled persons from
discrimination in employment or in other matters, or to improve
their access to buildings or transportation, and little has
been accomplished in these regards. Few public or private
buildings have facilities for the disabled.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The right to join a union is guaranteed by law, as is the right
to refrain from joining. The law prohibits anti-union actions
before registration of a union.
About 55 percent of workers in the private and public sectors
are members of unions. Police and military personnel are
prohibited from joining unions or striking, but they may form
associations to represent themselves in matters of pay, working
conditions, and general welfare. The right to strike is freely
exercised in both the public and private sectors. The
Industrial Relations Act of 1990 prohibits retribution against
strikers and union leaders; the Government effectively enforces
it through the Department of Enterprise and Employment. In
July the Department of Enterprise and Employment promulgated a
code of conduct for industrial relations in essential services;
negotiations between business and labor on the code's
implementation were in progress at year's end.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions represents 68 unions
(including some in Northern Ireland). Both it and the unions
affiliated with it are independent of the Government and of the
political parties. Unions may freely form or join federations
or confederations and affiliate with international bodies.
In 1994, as in previous years, strikes were common and some
went on for several months.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Labor unions have full freedom to organize and to engage in
collective bargaining. The Anti-Discrimination in Pay Act of
1974 and the Employment Equality Act of 1977 make the
Employment Equality Agency responsible for oversight of
allegations of discrimination. If the Agency is unable to
effect resolution, the dispute goes before the Labor Court,
which consists of one representative each for the employer and
the union, plus an independent chairperson. The Unfair
Dismissals Act of 1977 provides various forms of relief in
cases of employers guilty of antiunion discrimination,
including the reinstatement of workers fired for union
activities.
Most terms and conditions of employment are determined through
collective bargaining, in the context of a national economic
pact negotiated every 3 years by representatives of unions,
employers, farmers, and the Government. In February the latest
such pact was concluded, and as usual it establishes standard
pay increases and fixes a cap on any increases subsequently
negotiated at local levels.
The Industrial Relations Act of 1990 established the Labor
Relations Commission which provides advice and conciliation
services in industrial disputes. The Commission may refer
unresolved disputes to the Labor Court, which may recommend
terms of settlement and may set up joint employer-union
committees to regulate conditions of employment and minimum
wages in a specific trade or industry.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced labor is prohibited by law and does not occur.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum age for employment is 14 years with the written
permission of the parents. For children of age 15 the law
limits worktime to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. For
those of age 16 or 17, the limits are 9 hours per day and 40
hours per week. These provisions are effectively enforced by
the Department of Equality and Law Reform.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
There is no general minimum-wage law, but there are several
applicable to specific industrial sectors, mainly those that
tend to pay lower than average wages. Although the lowest of
these minimum wages would not be sufficient to provide a decent
living for a family of four, low-income families are entitled
to additional benefits such as subsidized housing and
children's allowances.
The standard workweek is 39 hours. Working hours in the
industrial sector are limited to 9 hours per day and 48 hours
per week. Overtime is limited to 2 hours per day, 12 hours per
week, and 240 hours in a year. The Labor Department is
responsible for enforcing four basic laws dealing with
occupational safety that provide adequate and comprehensive
coverage. There were no significant complaints from either
labor or management in 1994 regarding enforcement of these laws.
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