Implementing the Duty: Pilot Case Studies

Case Studies

As part of its functions, the Commission can give guidance to and encourage public bodies in developing policies and good practice in relation to human rights and equality. The ‘Implementing the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty’ guidance 2019 provides information about the Duty, its context as it relates to human rights and equality provisions in Ireland, and sets out key steps for its implementation.

In so doing, it draws on work undertaken by the Commission with five pilot sites from diverse sectors of the public service to develop good practice in relation to the Duty, and to frame practical first steps for organisations as they embed its implementation.

Public bodies

• Monaghan County Council
• Cork City Council
• University College Cork
• The Probation Service
• Irish Prison Service

Objectives:

• Trial a process to support implementation of the Duty in different types of public bodies
• Inform Commission guidance
• Develop case studies and exemplars of good practice

The Commission also worked on a pilot with Community Action Network (CAN), a social justice NGO who facilitated drugs service users to identify the human rights issues that affect them when accessing opioid treatment services. The pilot explored how civil society can support effective implementation of the Duty, by encouraging rights-holders to present their issues to public bodies, in this pilot the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive. The pilot produced a report “Our Life, Our Voice, Our Say’ (April 2018).

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