1. An Exploration of Institutional Racism in
the Irish Workplace
Resear ch Aim s
To exam ine the phenom enon of institutional r acism
thr ough them atic case analysis, par ticipant
inter views, and an exam ination of legal fr am ewor ks
such as legislation and br anchs of the Ir ish legal
system .
Study One:
An in-depth analysis of case r epor ts fr om the
Wor kplace Relations Com m ission {WRC} (for m er ly
Equality Tr ibunal and other agencies). The analysis
will focus on 11 points of infor m ation, including
them es, r ates of r ewar d and r enum er ation, and legal
r epr esentation.
Study Two:
Inter views with Adjudication Officer s of the
Wor kplace Relations Com m ission, and legal
r epr esentatives. Inter viewees to be identified fr om
Study One.
Four Officer s fr om the WRC, six m em ber s of the legal
pr ofession, e.g. solicitor s, bar r ister s, union
r epr esentatives.
Paul O'Dwyer, Postgraduate Researcher at Waterford Institute of Technology.
Paul.odwyer@postgrad.wit.ie
This poster is a representation of a part of my research in the pursuit of the award of
MA (Research) from Waterford Institute of Technology.
The title of my thesis is "An Exploration of Institutional Racism within the Irish Workplace".
My supervisors are Jonathan Culleton (WIT) and Dr. Jennifer Yeager (WIT).
Rationale
The above gr aph (data fr om CSO (2015)) highlights
the change in m igr ation patter ns in Ir eland fr om
1987 to 2015.
Accor ding to the Centr al Statistics Office, the
pr elim inar y 2015 (year ending Apr il) total
population of Ir eland was appr oxim ately 4,635,400.
Of this total population estim ate, r oughly 12.5%
(578,000) ar e non-nationals.
Initial Findings
- Januar y 2001-Decem ber 2015; the Wor kplace Relations
Com m ission hear d appr oxim ately 2,800 cases. 280 of
cases involved som e for m of complaint of r acism
against an employer , either declar ed or implied.
- Complainants m aintained legal r epr esentation in
73.2% of tar get cases, while Respondents m aintained
legal r epr esentation in 56.2% of tar get cases.
- Lar ge num ber of cases involve wor ker s in m anual
labour or sem i-skilled employm ent.
- Ther e is often m or e than one for m of discr im ination
in each of the tar get cases.
Legislation
Pr ohibition of Incitem ent of Hatr ed Act, 1989.
Employm ent Equality Acts, 1998-2015.
Equal Status Acts, 2000-2015.
Equality Act, 2004.
Wor kplace Relations Act, 2015.
Methodology
Study One: Them atic analysis of WRC cases, exam ining
them es, sim ilar ities, and differ ences acr oss the cases
and the 11 points of infor m ation.
Study Two: Sem i-str uctur ed inter views with
par ticipants identified fr om the case analysis.
Analysis contr ibuting to the str uctur e of inter view
questions.