Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty
All public bodies in Ireland are required under law 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 legal obligation is called the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty ("the Duty").
The Duty has been part of Irish law since 2014 and is set out in section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014. It embeds equality and human rights in how public bodies execute their functions and, to that end, it has the potential to positively transform how public bodies engage with members of the public and their own staff.
In its day to day work, and particularly in its dealings with its stakeholders, the CEA ensures that no member of the public or other stakeholder suffers discrimination under any of the protected grounds, i.e., gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, age, race, religion and/or membership of the Traveller community.
The CEA extends the same equality of treatment to its staff.