Equality and Human Rights Assessment

This assessment is prepared in accordance with Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is committed to encouraging a culture of inclusion, fairness and respect for all staff and customers of the department. We want to ensure that staff are empowered to achieve to their full potential, and that access to services, opportunities and career development is available on an equal footing to everyone.

Under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 there is an obligation on public bodies to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of their employees and their service users. This obligation is known as the Public Sector Duty.

To fulfil this duty, public bodies must:

• assess the human rights and equality issues it believes are relevant to its functions
• address these issues and describe how it plans to address these issues in its strategic plan
• report on developments and progress in the annual report

The first step for public bodies to meet their obligations under the duty is to assess any human rights and equality issues for people who use its service and its staff. This assessment is prepared in accordance with Section 42 of the 2014 Act and considers the equality and human rights issues of relevance to the staff and service users of the department and its offices.