Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

243. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he plans to issue a formal circular to all Government Departments and all public bodies in relation to their responsibilities and statutory obligations under the Public Sector Equality & Human Rights Duty under Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission Act of 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45806/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is not currently any plan for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to issue a circular to all government departments and public bodies in relation to obligations under the Public Sector Equality & Human Rights Duty under Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission Act of 2014.

Obligations and duties under the Act are the responsibility of individual government departments and public bodies. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission plays a key role in relation to the Duty including the provision of guidance, support, monitoring and enforcement, engaging extensively with public bodies to raise awareness of the Duty and support effective implementation.

OneLearning, the Civil Service Learning and Development Centre, which is based in my Department, has an important role to play in raising awareness across the Civil Service of equality, human rights and the Public Service Duty. The IHREC eLearning module “Equality and Human Rights in the Public Service” is now available on OneLearning’s learning management system and to date over 1100 Civil Servants have enrolled for this module. In addition, an extensive learning needs analysis for the Civil Service, conducted by OneLearning in 2021, identified Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as a key learning need. 52 new training courses are currently in various stages of design and roll out at this point in time and all of the new courses, where appropriate, are addressing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, with a number of courses specifically being developed to address EDI and the Public Sector Duty. IHREC have worked closely with OneLearning throughout all stages of the process and are involved with the development of the course content.