Employment Equality Act 1998

Vocational training.

12

12.(1) Subject to subsection (7) any person, including an educational or training body, who offers a course of vocational training shall not, in respect of any such course offered to persons over the maximum age at which those persons are statutorily obliged to attend school, discriminate against a person (whether at the request of an employer, a trade union or a group of employers or trade unions or otherwise)—

(a) in the terms on which any such course or related facility is offered,

(b) by refusing or omitting to afford access to any such course or F23[facility,]

(c) in the manner in which any such course or facility is F23[provided, or]

F24[(d) by publishing or displaying, or causing to be published or displayed, an advertisement in contravention of section 10(1) in respect of any such course offered.]

(2) In this section “vocational training” means any system of instruction which enables a person being instructed to acquire, maintain, bring up to date or perfect the knowledge or technical capacity required for the carrying on of an occupational activity and which may be considered as exclusively concerned with training for such an activity.

(3) F25[]

(4) For the purposes of ensuring the availability of nurses to hospitals and teachers to primary schools which are under the direction or control of a body established for religious purposes or whose objectives include the provision of services in an environment which promotes certain religious values, and in order to maintain the religious ethos of the hospitals or primary schools, the prohibition of discrimination in subsection (1), in so far as it relates to discrimination on the religion ground, shall not apply in respect of—

(a) the nomination of persons for admission to the School of Nursing pursuant to clause 24(4)(a) or (c) of the Adelaide Hospital Charter as substituted by paragraph 5(s) of the Health Act, 1970 (Section 76) (Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin, incorporating the National Children’s Hospital) Order, 1996, or

(b) places in a vocational training course specified in an order made under subsection (5).

(5) Where an educational or training body applies to the Minister for Health and Children, in the case of hospitals, or to the Minister for Education and Science, in the case of primary schools, for an order permitting the body concerned to reserve places in a vocational training course offered by the body, the Minister for Health and Children or the Minister for Education and Science, as the case may be, may, with the consent of the Minister, by order allow the body to reserve places in such numbers as seem reasonably necessary to the Minister for Health and Children or the Minister for Education and Science, as the case may be, to meet the purposes set out in subsection (4).

(6) Without prejudice to section 3(1), an order under subsection (5) may be revoked by a further order made by the Minister for Health and Children or the Minister for Education and Science, as the case may be, with the like consent; but any such revocation order shall contain transitional provisions safeguarding any person who took advantage of the effect of the order when it was in force.

(7) F26[Without prejudice to section 3 of the Refugee Act, 1996, nothing in subsection (1)] shall make unlawful discrimination on the age ground or the ground of race in respect of any course of vocational training offered by F26[an educational] or training body where—

(a) it provides different treatment in relation to—

F27[(i) the fees for admission or attendance at any such course by persons who are citizens of Ireland, nationals of another Member State, nationals of the Swiss Confederation or nationals of a member state of the European Economic Area and persons who are not, or]

(ii) the allocation of places on any such course to those citizens or nationals, or

(b) it offers assistance to particular categories of persons by way of sponsorships, scholarships, bursaries or other awards, which assistance is reasonably justifiable, having regard to traditional or historical F26[considerations, or]

F28[(c) in the case of a university or other third-level institution, it provides different treatment in the allocation of places on any such course to mature students (within the meaning of the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992).]

F29[(8) In this section, "member state of the European Economic Area" means a state that is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by all subsequent amendments to that Agreement.]

Annotations

Amendments:

F23

Substituted (1.01.2016) by Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (43/2015), s. 6(a)(i) and (ii), S.I. No. 610 of 2015.

F24

Inserted (1.01.2016) by Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (43/2015), s. 6(a)(iii), S.I. No. 610 of 2015.

F25

Deleted (18.07.2004) by Equality Act 2004 (24/2004), s. 6, commenced on enactment.

F26

Substituted (25.10.2000) by Equal Status Act 2000 (8/2000), s. 39 and sch. para. (c)(i), S.I. No. 351 of 2000.

F27

Substituted (1.01.2016) by Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (43/2015), s. 6(b), S.I. No. 610 of 2015.

F28

Inserted (25.10.2000) by Equal Status Act 2000 (8/2000), s. 39 and sch. para. (c)(iii), S.I. No. 351 of 2000.

F29

Inserted (1.01.2016) by Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (43/2015), s. 6(c), S.I. No. 610 of 2015.

Editorial Notes:

E14

Power pursuant to section exercised (9.08.2023) by Employment Equality Act 1998 (Section 12) (Reservation of Vocational Training Places) Order 2023 (S.I. No. 405 of 2023).

E15

Power pursuant to section exercised (18.07.2018) by Employment Equality Act 1998 (Section 12) (Reservation of Vocational Training Places) Order 2018 (S.I. No. 260 of 2018).

E16

Refugee Act 1996, referred to in subs. (7), was repealed (31.12.2016) by International Protection Act 2015 (66/2015), s. 6(1), S.I. No. 663 of 2016, subject to transitional provisions in ss. 68, 69.

E17

Power pursuant to section exercised (17.07.2013) by Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011 (section 12) (Church of Ireland College of Education) Order 2013 (S.I. No. 288 of 2013).

E18

Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Act 1968, referred to in subs. (7)(c), was repealed (27.06.2011) by Student Support Act 2011 (4/2011), s. 6(1) and sch. 1, S.I. No. 303 of 2011, subject to transitional provisions in subss. (2), (3).

E19

Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (2.07.2008) by Employment Equality Act, 1998 (Section 12) (Church of Ireland College of Education) Order 2008 (S.I. No. 251 of 2008); expired at end of academic year 2012/2013.

E20

Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (15.07.2003) by Employment Equality Act 1998 (section 12) (Church of Ireland College of Education) Order 2003 (S.I. No. 319 of 2003); expired at end of academic year 2007/2008.

E21

Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (30.06.2000) by Employment Equality Act, 1998 (Section 12) (Church of Ireland College of Education) Order 2000 (S.I. No. 216 of 2000); expired at end of academic year 2002/2003.