Under Section 19 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003, cases of discrimination that occur on or at the point of entry to licensed premises are governed by that Act rather than the Equal Status Acts. This means that they are brought to the District Court rather than the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
It is proposed, in the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024, to repeal this provision, so that such cases will now be governed by the Equal Status Acts, as had been the case previously.
The General Scheme includes a number of legislative provisions arising from a review of Ireland’s equality legislation. It has been informed by submissions received in the review process, by additional stakeholder consultations on some of the complex issues arising, as well as by recent Private Members’ Bills, academic research, and requirements under EU Equality Directives. As part of the review, the Department invited written submissions to a public consultation. A report summarising the key issues raised was published in July 2023 and is available at https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/equality-acts-review_-summary-of-submissions.pdf. As noted in that report, a significant number of submissions commented on section 19 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003.
Section 19 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003 provides that where a person considers that they have been discriminated against on or at the point of entry to a licensed premises, they must apply to the District Court (rather than the Workplace Relations Commission) for redress. The decision to transfer such claims to the District Court introduced inconsistency in how discrimination claims are treated in Ireland. Concerns have been raised by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance regarding the barriers that this inconsistency creates.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme and issued its report in October 2025.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) provides guidance on equality matters, including discrimination claims, and has the power to prepare codes of practice related to discrimination. IHREC has also undertaken two separate reviews of Section 19 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act. These are available at https://www.ihrec.ie/publications/review-of-section-19-of-the-intoxicating-liquor-act.
