Dublin fights racism and discrimination in public transport

Dublin City Council in partnership with Immigrant Council of Ireland, the Equality Authority of Ireland and partners in public transport launched a document 'Towards an Inclusive Public Transport Service in Ireland' on Friday 27th June 2014. This project developed with the One City One People Campaign in 2010 to ensure passengers and staff travelling on Dublin public transport, that racism and discrimination will not be tolerated. The project has developed over the last four years by the Immigrant Council of Ireland and has evolved with improved transit and outdoor advertising campaigns, staff training, recording of racist incidents and awareness of interculturalism for the whole city. Speaking at the launch, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke said: "Migration is our future”.

Advantage is vital to the success of our city and its development. The Anti-Racism Toolkit is a core partnership project that makes a clear statement across our city that we do not accept any form of discrimination and will be a great asset in developing or Intercultural understanding”. Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland added: "We are very grateful to our public transport partners who have over the past two-years worked with us on awareness campaigns to assure victims of racism that they have nothing to fear in coming forward. Today – we move to the next stage of that partnership with the publication of 'Towards an Inclusive Public Transport Service in Ireland' which will ensure that staff are trained to respond to incidents and that proper reporting procedures are in place”. The initiative was also showcased at the recent Cities of Migration Conference in Berlin organised by the Maytree Foundation. Showcasing this idea during the conference, Declan Hayden of the Office for Integration in Dublin City Council stated: "Through Intercultural Cities, many cities across the greater Europe, are striving to build a future where culturally diverse communities will learn to live in harmony, respect and peace. We are proud that Dublin is one of these pioneer cities and the One City One People and the Transport antiracism and discrimination campaigns are an excellent example of this work”.