Public Sector Duty-Assessment and Action Plan 2024 - 2026

Under Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014, all public bodies in Ireland have a legal obligation to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of their employees, customers, service users and everyone affected by their policies and plans. This is known as the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty or Public Sector Duty.

The Act requires public sector bodies to:

• assess and identify the human rights and equality issues that are relevant to their functions, in their strategic plans;
• identify the policies and practices in place, or are planned to be put in place, to address these issues;
• report on developments and achievements in that regard in their annual reports.

The Public Sector Duty Assessment and Action Plan 2024-2026 is the department’s first such plan. The Action Plan identifies twenty actions across the four categories of Human Resources/Internal Actions; Service Provision; Policy and Research Function; and Oversight and Regulatory Function.

Progress in regard to those actions identified will be reported in the department’s Annual Report.

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