The Public Sector Duty is a legal obligation on public bodies, contained in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and protect the human rights of public sector staff and service users.

The identified groups for the Duty are:

• groups covered by the nine protected grounds under equality legislation: gender (including transgender people and people transitioning to their true gender); civil status; family status (including lone parents and carers); age; disability; sexual orientation; race (encompassing race, skin colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins); religion (any or no religious belief); and membership of the Traveller community; and
• groups covered by the ground of socio-economic status, who are at risk of or experiencing poverty and social exclusion, including working class people, people experiencing rural disadvantage, and ex-offenders.

It requires public bodies to give effect to this duty through steps to Assess, Address and Report, to:

– carry out an assessment of equality and human rights issues facing the identified groups for the Duty and relevant to their functions

– develop policies, plans and actions to address these issues; and

– report annually on progress and achievements in relation to those actions.

In implementing these steps, Donegal ETB has undertaken the following initiatives:

Assess: Donegal ETB has undertaken an assessment of the equality and human rights issues facing the identified groups under the Duty, that are relevant to the functions of Donegal ETB.

Address: Donegal ETB is addressing the issues it identified in its assessment at key moments in developing or reviewing its plan, programmes, procedures, and policies and is enabling this work with staff training.

Report: Donegal ETB reports annually on it how its progress and achievements in addressing these issues. You can read our most recent report here.