Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
1607. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Justice the way that her Department and public bodies and agencies under her remit met their obligations under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 in 2021, including the way that relevant policies and actions are monitored and the way that the obligation is reflected in their annual reports. [41374/22]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the public sector duty as set out in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 is consistent with the core functions and values of my Department, which seeks to value and promote equality and human rights through its day-to-day work, whether in delivering key public services, developing policy and legislation in an inclusive human rights compliant manner, or in doing its work in an efficient, fair manner with integrity and respect for human dignity.
As the Deputy may be aware, my Department’s Statement of Strategy 2021-2023 includes a statement on how we intend to fulfil our obligations under Section 42 of the IHREC Act 2014. It states that we will:
- Carry out a fresh assessment of the human rights and equality issues relevant to the functions and purpose of the Department and the policies, plans and actions to be taken to address those issues. We will publish this assessment on our website.
- Promote and foster our human rights and equality duty as part of the training cycle.
- Drive change and continuous improvement in key areas by continuing to implement international human rights norms.
- Report on progress in our Annual Report and, where appropriate, require bodies under the aegis of the Department to measure progress in their own annual reports.
An Garda Síochána and my Department sponsored Action 16 under Our Public Service (OPS) 2020 – to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the public service. Key outputs from the work of the Action Team were a vision statement, which the Department and other public service bodies signed in May 2021, along with a maturity model, designed to assist organisations to reflect and assess on how they are doing across the range of important elements which contribute to supporting equality and diversity.
In 2021, my Department piloted the maturity model as a self-assessment tool and the findings were used to inform the development of its first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, which was published in March 2022. The Strategy aims to strengthen the Department’s capabilities to promote equality, embrace diversity and foster inclusion, not only in our daily interactions and activities as colleagues, but also in the design and delivery of the services that we provide to the public.
The EDI Strategy is central to my Department's mission of working for a safe, fair, inclusive Ireland and to fulfilling our public sector duty obligations.
The EDI Strategy prioritises three areas of focus for strategic impact:
- achieve better policy outcomes and improve the accessibility and quality of our services;
- support the development of a skilled and diverse workforce which is reflective of the diversity within our population / country;
- build and embed a workplace culture which facilitates, supports and encourages contributions from all
Each of these strategic outcomes are underpinned by a number of actions which the Department will implement over the life of the EDI Strategy. These actions will be integrated into our usual business plans including adding appropriate indicators and monitored along with our other organisational goals and strategic priorities. My Department’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Public Sector Duty Committee will monitor the implementation of this EDI Strategy over the course of its life time. The monitoring process will also involve establishing a mechanism to engage with colleagues with lived experience to ensure we are our living up to the aspirations communicated in the Strategy.
In accordance with our public sector duty, from 2019 onwards, all governance agreements made by my Department outline the obligation for all public bodies (i.e. the agencies) to include the Public Sector Duty in their strategic planning process and report on a regular basis on their progress. This action is a significant milestone in embedding the public sector duty obligations in the Department’s governance framework.
My Department has also included a requirement in all grant agreements that grantees are obliged to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality and protect the human rights of staff and persons to whom services are provided.
