In 1998, the Employment Equality Act replaced the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act 1974 and the Employment Equality Act 1977. The new law covers the areas of advertising, equal pay, access to employment, promotion, reclassification, dismissal and other aspects. This law only applies to the labour market, but forms the basis for further equality legislation in Ireland. In the years 2000 and 2004, the Equal Status Act was passed to secure the right to social participation for all. Under this law, the protection against discrimination is expanded and positive measures established. In this way, the law protects those affected by discrimination and at the same time sets equal treatment standards for business people, service providers, the school administrations and other educational institutions, and boards of private registered associations.

In order to extend the protection against discrimination, the National Disability Authority Act was passed in 1999 under which the National Disability Authority (NDA) was launched. The tasks of the NDA include research, the production of relevant statistics, assistance in the development of better standards and the implementation and monitoring of the guidelines.

All of these laws are the precursors of the 2014 Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act.