From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, today announced the publication of the independent report, “Realising the promise of national equality policy”, commissioned by his department from the Centre for Effective Studies.
The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of the processes for implementation of three equality strategies - the Migrant Integration Strategy, the National Strategy for Women and Girls, and the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy - with a view to informing how the department develops and implements whole-of-government equality policy in the future with a strong outcomes-focused approach.
To identify best practice, a bespoke, evidence-informed and expert-validated framework of activities important to the effective implementation of equality or human rights policy was created, drawing on Irish and international literature in the field.
Processes used in the three equality strategies were assessed against this best practice framework. This evaluation concluded that stakeholder consultations for the previous strategies were felt to be thorough and to capture a broad cross-section of views. It was recommended that consultation for future national equality strategies should seek to build on these successes. Other recommendations focus on enhancing collaboration with stakeholders, adopting appropriate structures for steering, striving for focused and dynamic strategies, addressing capacity issues, developing indicators of progress and promoting effective use of monitoring information, and planning and paying ongoing attention to implementation.
Referring to the report, Minister O’Gorman said:
“I welcome the publication of this study and its recommendations. These form a valuable resource to policymakers in the public service and to the stakeholders who contribute to developing and giving effect to equality policy. In particular, the study will inform the processes of consultation and development of successors to the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, the Migrant Integration and the National Strategy for Women and Girls, which are currently underway.”
Realising the promise of national equality policy - Executive Summary
The Programme for Government (2020) committed to carrying out a review of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy and to ensure that the successor strategy has a stronger outcomes focused approach. It also committed to the development and implement successors to the Migrant Integration Strategy and the National Strategy for Women and Girls, both of which concluded at end 2021.
Work is well underway to develop the new Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy. Traveller and Roma organisations have received the necessary resources from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to carry out regional and local consultations with Traveller and Roma groups in September, which will inform the development of the successor strategy.
Preparatory work has also begun on stakeholder consultations with a view to developing successors to the Migrant Integration Strategy and the National Strategy for Women and Girls, both of which concluded at end 2021.