Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The responsibility for Integration transferred from my Department to the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth on 14 October 2020. My Department retained responsibility in the fields of migration and international protection policy, in which integration dimensions are an important ongoing consideration, but not such that it is feasible to set clearly delineated integration specific responsibilities to particular staff members.

More broadly, the Department has at its mission the strategic purpose of working towards a safe, fair and inclusive Ireland, and our strategic goals are informed by this mission and by our obligations under the Human Rights Public Sector Duty.

In this context my Department is committed to creating a positive, welcoming and inclusive organisation for all people, including its staff and members of the public who engage with our services.

My Department launched its first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy in March 2022, aligned to our vision of a Safe, Fair and Inclusive Ireland. The Strategy aims to strengthen the Department’s capabilities to promote equality, embrace diversity and foster inclusion, not only in our daily interactions and activities as colleagues, but also in the design & delivery of the services that we provide to the public. The EDI Strategy is accompanied by an action plan which prioritises three areas of focus for strategic impact:

• achieve better policy outcomes and improve the accessibility and quality of our services;
• support the development of a skilled and diverse workforce which is reflective of the diversity within our population / country ;
• build and embed a workplace culture which facilitates, supports and encourages contributions from all.

Each of these strategic outcomes is underpinned by a number of actions and the Department’s EDI and Public Sector Duty Committee, monitors the implementation of the actions contained in the Strategy.