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Equality and Discrimination

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CSO statistical release, , 11am

Equality and Discrimination

Quarter 1 2019

Percentage of persons who experienced discrimination1
% of persons aged 18+
 Q1 2019
State17.7
Principal economic status
At work17.1
Unemployed30.2
Student21.9
Home duties14.1
Retired12.4
Others24.1
LGBTI+
LGBTI+33.2
Non-LGBTI+17.2
Nationality
Irish16.3
Non-Irish26.7
1 In the two years prior to interview

18% of persons aged 18+ experienced discrimination

Fig 1 Discrimination by perceived grounds, Q1 2019
go to full release
  • Nearly 18% of people aged 18 years or over said that they felt discriminated against in the two years prior to interview. See headline table and Table 1.
  • The highest rates of discrimination were reported by people who identify as LGBTI+ (33.2%), followed by persons from non-white ethnic backgrounds (33.1%), unemployed (30.2%) and non-Irish (26.7%). See Table 1.
  • Nearly one eighth (11.8%) of people reported that they had experienced discrimination when Accessing services while almost one in ten (9.4%) reported work-related discrimination - In the workplace and/or while Looking for work. See Table 2.1.
  • Bullying or harassment (32.8%) was the most common issue identified in discrimination In the workplace, followed by Promotion and Work conditions (both at 18.9%). See Table 2.3.
  • The most common grounds identified by people who had experienced any form of discrimination were Age (34.1%), followed by Race/skin colour/ethnic group/nationality (21.9%). See Table 3.1.
  • Sexual orientation was cited as a reason for discrimination by 9.5% of males and 8.8% of females who experienced any type of discrimination. See Table 3.2.
  • Nearly one third (32.3%) of persons aged 18 or over who experienced discrimination indicated that they had a good understanding of their rights under Irish equality legislation. In contrast, almost one eighth (11.5%) stated they had no understanding of their rights. See Table 6.1.
  • More than seven out of every ten (70.4%) persons who experienced discrimination in the two years prior to interview took no action in response to their experience. Over one fifth (21.3%) took verbal action. See Table 6.3.

Users should note that the survey instrument used to carry out the Equality and Discrimination survey has changed since the survey was last carried out in Quarter 3 2014. Previously it was carried out as a module of the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS). The Labour Force Survey (LFS) has now replaced the QNHS. With this change, surveys previously carried out as modules of the QNHS, are now carried out for the most part in the General Household Survey (GHS). This change has affected sample size. The achieved sample size for the Q1 2019 survey was 3,971 respondents. Further information is available in the Background Notes. It should be noted that a national sample of this size can be insufficient to report on minority groups.

It should also be noted that in the Q1 2019 Equality and Discrimination survey, an additional category of discrimination was included – discrimination experienced In contact with An Garda Síochána. This category of discrimination was not included in previous years’ surveys. See the section Discrimination levels over time for more analysis of the inclusion of this category.

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