1 - Start ~4 mins
2 - Treated Badly, or Discrimination? ~9 mins
Being treated badly and being discriminated against under Irish equality law are not the same thing. Discrimination, in this legal sense, means less favourable treatment because of a protected ground, in settings the law covers such as work, shops, services, housing and education.
The nine grounds, with a plain phrase for each, are:
- gender — being treated less favourably as a man or a woman
- civil status — single, married, divorced, separated, widowed, or in a civil partnership
- family status — pregnant, parent of a child under 18, or caring for a dependant
- sexual orientation — who you are attracted to
- religion — faith, belief, or having none
- age — how old you are
- disability — a physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health condition
- race — including skin colour, nationality and ethnic origin
- membership of the Traveller community — being a Traveller
Those nine are settled fact in Irish law.
Plenty of unfair treatment sits outside them. Cutting someone dead for their haircut, snubbing a classmate who supports a different political party, or freezing out a teammate after a row can all feel harsh. None of those, on their own, is discrimination on a protected ground.
Your teacher will model one clear hit and one near-miss on the board. Then the next task asks you to prove you can tell the difference.
3 - Which Ground, If Any? ~19 mins
Work through the interactive activity in two passes. First, sort the situations that clearly hit a ground. Then sort the near-misses: if none of the nine grounds fits, use Not one of the nine grounds.
Challenge mode will bounce a wrong drop, so be ready to say why your placement is right before you try again.
When every card is placed, check your sort. In the last minutes, write one fresh example of less favourable treatment on a ground of your choice, different from the cards, ready to keep or share.
Which ground, if any?
4 - Why the Near-misses Matter ~5 mins
Talk these through as a class. Do not type answers. Take thirty seconds with a partner first, then hands up.
- Which near-miss card surprised you most, and why did it feel as if it should count?
- In one sentence: what is the difference between being treated badly and discrimination under the nine grounds?
5 - What You Covered ~3 mins
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