The equality framework developed in the Equality Studies Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), provides a useful base for thinking about literacy from an equality perspective. Neo-liberal, critical and situated approaches to literacy have made minimal impact in the Irish context where only 6 per cent of those with unmet literacy needs participate in learning. This paper explores what an egalitarian theory of adult literacy might have to offer by way of explaining this low participation and also indicating an alternative way forward. (Contains 3 footnotes.)