Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2021
426. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Justice the way her Department and public bodies and agencies under her remit fulfil their obligations under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34858/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
The public sector duty is equally relevant to the experience of staff. In line with the Department's values - Open, Collaborative, Professional - it is committed to creating an environment where it promotes positive engagement, critical analysis, open and honest communication, and embracing diverse perspectives while striving to be inclusive in all that it does, with a view to attracting and retaining a more diverse workforce.
As the Deputy may be aware, my Department's recently published 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 are a vision statement, which the Department and other public service bodies have signed up to, 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.
My Department has piloted the maturity model as a self-assessment tool and the findings are being used to inform the development of its first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, which will be published later this year. The EDI Strategy will be central to my Department's mission of working for a safe, fair, inclusive Ireland and to fulfilling our public sector duty obligations. This work is being progressed by the Department's Equality, Diversity Inclusion and Public Sector Duty Committee.
The draft objectives of this strategy will focus on:
- improving the accessibility and quality of our services
- supporting the development of a skilled and diverse workforce
- building and embedding a workplace culture which facilitates, supports and encourages contributions from all
In accordance with our public sector duty, from 2019 onwards, all governance agreements made by the 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.
The 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.
In addition, my Department has identified a number actions in its Justice Plan for 2021 including:
- Lead on implementation of the diversity measures identified under Action 16
- Support and monitoring diversity initiatives as core part of governance of agencies
Progress in relation to these actions will be reported and published at the end of 2021.
