CSO Public Sector Duty Assessment and Action Plan 2024

CSO under Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 Public Sector Duty Assessment and Action Plan

All public bodies in Ireland have responsibility 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 a legal obligation called the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty.  It is contained in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014.

What are the reporting obligations of a public body under the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty?

Section 42(2) of this Act requires public bodies to undertake a three-step process of self-assessment and reporting. A public body must set out an assessment in its strategic plan of the human rights and equality issues it believes to be relevant to its functions and purpose, and the policies, plans and actions proposed, or in place, to address these issues.  This must be done while having regard to its size and the resources available to it.  A public body must then report on progress against these actions in its annual report (or equivalent).  Both the assessment of the issues and related actions, and the report on progress against these actions, must be publicly accessible.

In the CSO

A Public Sector Duty (PSD) Working Group was set up within the CSO in late 2022 with representatives from across the office. This group have developed a template which will be used as a tool to gather information on how each Division within the organisation is meeting its public sector duty whilst also highlighting gaps in this area.  

The CSO is dedicated to ensuring that there is a culture of respect for human rights and equality among our staff and for the people to whom we provide services. 

In December 2022, a CSO Public Sector Working Group was established by the Management Board to drive implementation of our Public Sector Duty.  The working group reports to the EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) Steering Committee on a quarterly basis.  The working group developed a template to aid each area of the organisation in conducting their Public Sector Duty assessment.

The CSO has conducted an assessment of human rights and equality issues that are relevant to our functions, and we are satisfied that we are fulfilling our public sector duty obligation as set out in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014.
As a means of further embedding and promoting human rights and equality principles, we have prepared a three-year action plan. This action plan will be reviewed on an annual basis, and we will report progress on relevant actions in our Annual Report.