THE EQUALITY Authority has appointed a new chief executive, following the controversial resignation of Niall Crowley last December.
Senior civil servant Renee Dempsey, who was previously principal officer of the Department of Justice’s disability equality unit, will begin her role this June.
In a statement, the Equality Authority said Dempsey had “a wide range of experience across several government departments, working both at home and abroad.”
Chair of the body Angela Kerins added: “The board is very pleased to approve the appointment of a CEO of such high calibre and with such energy and commitment. The board looks forward to working with the new CEO in implementing the recently published Strategic Plan 2009-2011.”
The post at the helm of the equality promotion body was vacated when ex-chief Crowley resigned in protest at a 43 per cent cut in the authority’s budget. In January he was followed by five other members of the authority’s board.
Crowley has continued in his criticism of the cuts, saying that gains made by groups experiencing inequality were “disappearing before our very eyes” and that people working in the sector were afraid to criticise the cuts.
“We now have an economic crisis that is rapidly deepening… as we dismantle the equality infrastructure,” he said, “deepening as the Combat Poverty Agency and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) are abolished, deepening as the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission are in effect both rendered unviable due to disproportionate budget cuts.”
The role of the Equality Authority is to seek “positive change in the situation and experience” of groups and individuals experiencing inequality “by stimulating and supporting a commitment to equality”.
Ireland’s equality legislation forbids discrimination on grounds of gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, religious belief or membership of the Traveller community.
