The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has called on the Government to expand equality legislation to include discrimination on the ground of socio-economic status and on the ground of criminal conviction.
The commission has also recommended changes to the existing gender and family status grounds.
The proposals are contained in a second set of recommendations from the IHREC as part of an ongoing review of equality legislation.
The commission said it believes that it is a matter of justice that a socio-economic status ground be introduced.
The commission is recommending the inclusion of a broad prohibition on discrimination on the ground of criminal conviction that is not limited to spent convictions and is calling for further research on the safeguarding of victims' rights to determine the appropriate exemptions needed in relation to this ground.
The IHREC said the gender ground in equality legislation should be amended to include explicit reference to and define gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
"In reforming the gender ground, consideration should be given to reframing the exemptions relating to gender to ensure the current protections for trans men and women are not diluted," the report states.
The submission sets out over 55 specific recommendations covering areas such as access to justice and legal aid, protected grounds, measuring effectiveness and data collection.
"People across Ireland experience discrimination in many different ways throughout their lives," said IHREC Chief Commissioner Sinéad Gibney.
"Equality law is a significant part of the State response to discrimination so the Government’s Review of Equality Law in Ireland is a milestone opportunity for change."
"The law must adapt to provide effective prevention of, and protection against, discrimination, now and into the future," Ms Gibney said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Gibney said when she speaks to people who have been in prison, they talk to her about the two sentences that are handed down to them.
"The first one that they serve in prison and the second one that follows them for life where they are discriminated against, because they have been in prison or because they have served a sentence," she said.
She added that while the appropriate safeguards would have to be incorporated into any reform "for example when you're talking about violent crimes and sexual assault," but more broadly that people should not be discriminated against just because they have a conviction.
She said she hopes the Government will act on the recommendations of the IHREC.
