Ms Caroline O'Loughlin:

I will start with the data. As the Deputy said, data was one of our challenges. As we started out on equality budgeting, we identified very early that the availability of disaggregated data needed to be addressed. As I mentioned earlier, one of the first things we did was identify steps we could take to address that. The CSO appointed a statistician for an initial six-month period. She conducted a data audit of all the available data in Ireland. Obviously, that helped us because we realised that we were not always aware and, for example, sometimes there was duplication. We did not know what was out there, so it was great to have all of that information collected to a central point. That told us what was available and what we could base metrics on. It also told us where the gaps were and where we needed to address that. As stated earlier, a data strategy is in train at the moment. This is headed by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the CSO. They are looking at measures that we can take to plug those gaps and where we can capture the data. The Deputy asked if the data are available. We have some data and we are working on improving that.

All Departments are represented on the interdepartmental group. We have terms of reference for which a representative from each of the Departments is accountable. It is a two-way process. The representatives bring our message back to the Departments and make sure that each is aware of equality budgeting and how it can implement it, and, then, vice versa, they make sure that we are aware of any relevant of work being done in line Departments that will inform will how equality budgeting is progressed. The group has been in operation for less than a year. As mentioned, each Department has carried out a skills and needs analysis. Basically, this is an assessment of what they have that is suitable for equality budgeting and where they feel the barriers lie. They brought the results back to us and we discussed what we can do to address matters. As I said, half of the Departments did it at our previous meeting. We have a meeting later on today with the interdepartmental group and the remaining Departments will give their skills and needs analysis then. That will inform a work programme of how ensure, as the Deputy said, that it is being implemented and that Departments have realistic goals. Every Department is participating in equality budgeting, as in they report on at least one equality metric in the REV or the performance report. What we want to do in the short term is expand this in order that there is an equality budgeting metric for each programme of each Department.

What we have always said about equality budgeting is that is not a matter of clocking up metrics, ticking the box and saying that it is done.What we want equality budgeting to do is to be an example of how equality considerations can be properly implemented into performance budgeting as a whole. We have seen that even though some Departments perhaps only report on two or three metrics, we can see how their general performance metrics have improved. The focus has gone further to specific cohorts of society. That is the approach we have taken with equality budgeting from the start.

The Deputy also mentioned international best practice. In 2019, the OECD was asked to come over and do a scan of equality budgeting. What we had done was still very much in its infancy at that time, but it came to look at what we had done and give us recommendations on how we could progress the work. International best practice obviously played a key part in that. Something I should also mention is that we are very active on the senior gender budgeting officials group of the OECD. As far as I know, to date, Ireland is the only country that pursues equality budgeting. All other OECD countries reported on a gender budgeting only basis. However, it has to be said that the policies on gender budgeting are very transferable to all elements of equality and we have found that. That is also why we work very closely with colleagues in green budgeting and sustainable development goal, SDG, budgeting. International best practice has always been something that we have considered.

In the OECD recommended project dealing with tagging and tracking that the Deputy mentioned, we conducted technical assistance and information exchange visits, which are basically study visits, with other countries that do similar work.

It is a really beneficial network where officials from different countries will exchange experience such as what was good and what were the pitfalls to be avoided. That has been beneficial to us. We continue to participate strongly in the OECD senior budgeting gender equality officials network. International best practice has always played a key role in how we progress this work.