Round-up: "The Secondary Punishment”: A Scoping Study on Employer Attitudes to Hiring People with Criminal Convictions

8th February 2024

On 8 February 2024, Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) launched a new scoping study exploring the attitudes of employers in Ireland to hiring people with criminal convictions at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) office. The report presents the findings from interviews with employers and people with convictions, survey data, and a workshop event. 

The report is available to download here.

Contributors at the event included: Dr Joe Garrihy and Dr Ciara Bracken-Roche (report co-authors, both School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University); Dr Anne Cassidy (Team Leader, Galway Rural Development); Damien Quinn (Founder of Spéire Nua); Kara McGann (Head of Skills and Social Policy, IBEC); Kenneth Keating (Assistant Principal, Penal and Policing Policy, Department of Justice); and Deirdre Malone (Director, IHREC). The event was chaired by Saoirse Brady (Executive Director, IPRT).

Among those who attended were employers, employer representatives, political and Government representatives, statutory bodies, academics, human rights bodies, service providers, and people with lived experience. It was great of you to join us. 

At the launch, co-authors of the report, Dr Joe Garrihy and Dr Ciara Bracken-Roche, shared key findings from the research, examining the employer attitudes to hiring people with convictions. Findings included: employers' responses to risk and fear result in ad hoc approaches in hiring; that a lack of foundations for employers to build from meant that there was a lot of ambiguity and an absence of clear criteria or measurements; and hierarchy of offences, safeguarding, discretion right to privacy were discussed.  

Dr Ciara Bracken-Roche highlighted the need for better guidance which would allow employers to go further. Dr Joe Garrihy provided important insights into the experience of people with convictions when job-seeking, with feelings of isolation and stigmatisation throughout the hiring process being common.  

An overview of the recommendations for actions that would remove barriers to employers hiring people with convictions was presented. 

We also heard engaged responses to the report from Dr Anne Cassidy (Team Leader, Galway Rural Development); Damien Quinn (Founder of Spéire Nua); Kara McGann (Head of Skills and Social Policy, IBEC); Ken Keating (Assistant Principal, Penal and Policing Policy, Department of Justice); and Deirdre Malone (Director, IHREC).  

Report: "The Secondary Punishment”: A Scoping Study on Employer Attitudes to Hiring People with Criminal Convictions

Press release: "The Secondary Punishment": Employers and people with convictions reveal barriers to employment

Media:

• Irish Times: Conviction for crime should not mean ‘a lifetime of discrimination’ 
• Irish Legal News: New research shines light on employer attitudes to employing people with convictions 
• RTÉ Radio One - Drivetime: Irish Penal Reform Trust Convictions/Employment 
• Irish Examiner: Nine in 10 employers would consider hiring someone with convictions – report 
• Irish Examiner Mick Clifford Podcast: SECOND CHANCE: Damien Quinn and Saoirse Brady
• Irish Examiner: Debt to society can be a long-term payment plan
• The Fifth Court podcast: 9/10 would employ ex-prisoners - Saoirse Brady, IPRT

Video overview of the event: IHREC Twitter.

This research was made possible thanks to the support of IHREC’s Human Rights and Equality Grant Scheme 2022-23 and the generosity of the Open Doors Initiative.