Ms Emily Logan:

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has a role to play in raising awareness and promoting a culture of respect for human rights and equality. Training and education is a key part of that. We have collaborated with the IPA to run a professional diploma course in human rights and equality for people working in public and civil administration. The course was launched the week before last, and was oversubscribed. There are 50 people working from within the public sector on the course, including people from the court system, gardaí, hospitals and health care professionals. We were pleased with the uptake of the course. It is a beginning.

One of the new provisions in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act introduced on 1 November 2014 is what is called a positive duty. Traditionally, human rights were articulated as a negative obligation to prohibit discrimination, but section 42 places a positive obligation on the State and all public bodies to do three things. The first is to eliminate discrimination, the second is to promote equality of treatment and opportunity, and the third is to have regard for human rights.

We are already working with some key organisations to try to pilot the training and education scheme. We have had conversations with the LGMA, the local authorities' representative body. It is a key sector, in particular given today's discussion on Traveller accommodation as a fundamental part of security and as a determinant of health for Travellers. We are starting with local authorities and housing.

We are also working with the Ombudsman and regulators who investigate thousands of cases a year and hear from thousands of complainants. If they start making recommendations and embedding that thinking in the recommendations we will, over time, get a response from public bodies. We are also working with some community development organisations.

The fourth strand is higher education. We have a pilot project with University College Cork on the public sector duty to encourage academic institutions, as educators and influences of education regionally, to get on board. We are at the early stages of development.

The Chairman is absolutely correct. Education is key, and as a human rights and equality commission we will put our shoulder to the wheel and play a part. It is a small part of what is required. We are here for the long haul. This kind of work takes a long time but we are absolutely committed to the process.