Roma women who wear traditional clothing are encountering significant discrimination in retail settings, according to the independent free legal advice service, Flac.
“Discrimination against Roma women who wear traditional Roma attire on the basis of their ethnicity and gender remains a very significant issue,” according to Flac (Free Legal Advice Centres) in its 2023 annual report.
The report says volunteer lawyers held 3,273 consultations in Flac centres during the year, and gave free legal representation to 212 people, mainly in the areas of housing, homelessness, equality, discrimination and social welfare law.
The telephone advice service run by the organisation could deal with only 21 per cent of the more than 50,000 calls it received.
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During 2023 Flac represented two Roma women who succeeded in a Circuit Court appeal where the court found their exclusion from a Dunnes Stores supermarket was discriminatory and awarded them €4,000 and €2,000 respectively.
It also represented a homeless Traveller couple with four children who were provided with accommodation after judicial review proceedings were taken against a local authority.
Flac chief executive Eilis Barry said in her foreword to the annual report that discrimination against Roma women on the basis of their ethnicity and gender remains “depressingly commonplace”.
During 2023 three new cases were opened on behalf of Roma women who alleged discrimination against them in retail settings, and Flac continued to act in six other cases where Roma women were alleging discrimination. Four of the six cases involve retailers.
[ Two Roma women awarded €6,000 after being asked to leave Dunnes StoresOpens in new window ]
The Circuit Court appeal is believed to be the first court ruling that a Roma person had been discriminated against in a retail setting. Flac managing solicitor Sinéad Lucey said many of the cases taken by Roma woman with support from Flac are settled on confidential terms.
The organisation runs Roma, Traveller and LGBTQI+ legal clinics, with social welfare cases being one of the larger issues raised in the Roma clinic.
“All but one of Flac’s active social welfare case files were connected to the habitual residence condition [the need to prove a close link to Ireland] for access to means-tested social welfare payments and child benefit,” the report said.
“Flac has repeatedly highlighted the disproportionate negative impact these conditions have on Roma and their ability to access basic social welfare payments.”
During the year, the organisation was involved with 42,742 hours of pro bono work.
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