Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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302. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to introduce a legislative provision equivalent to section 75 in the Northern Ireland Act 1998 that is in place in Northern Ireland. [42963/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 which was enacted on 1 November 2014 introduces a positive duty on public bodies to have due regard to human rights and equality and reflects a commitment in the Government's Programme for National Recovery 2011 to 2016. This duty is set out in Section 42 of the Act. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission will assist and support public bodies to comply with this positive duty by a number of methods including by producing guidelines and codes of practice.

This duty will provide a positive opportunity to bring about real reform within the public sector by persuading and promoting best practice by highlighting good examples across the public sector to which other bodies can aspire.