SEAI and the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty

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SEAI is committed to embedding equality and human rights across all its functions, guided by the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty.

What is the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty?

SEAI strives to proactively prevent and eliminate discrimination and inequality in the workplace, promote equality of opportunity, and protect the human rights and treatment of its staff, stakeholders, customers, and everyone affected by its policies and procedures. It is committed to embedding human rights and equality matters across its organisational functions.

This commitment is now strengthened by a legal obligation called the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty, which has come about as a result of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014.

The Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty places equality and human rights at the heart of how public bodies carry out their functions, with the potential to positively transform how public bodies engage and interact with their own staff and the wider public.

The Duty places equality and human rights at the heart of public bodies’ functions, with the potential to positively transform engagement with staff and the wider public.

The Duty involves two interconnected obligations:

Section 42(1), the overarching Duty, is an ongoing requirement on public bodies, across all their functions, to have regard to the need to: 

  • Eliminate discrimination;
  • Promote equality of opportunity and treatment of its staff and the persons to whom it provides services; and
  • Protect the human rights of its members, staff and the persons to whom it provides services. 

Section 42 (2), the strategic Duty, is a requirement on public bodies, as part of their strategic planning and reporting cycle to undertake three steps in giving effect to the Duty: 

  • Step 1. Assess: Undertake an assessment of the equality and human rights issues facing the identified groups for the Duty that have relevance to their functions and purpose, and to make that assessment publicly available, through their Corporate Plan.
  • Step 2. Address: Identify and communicate, through their Corporate Plan, the plans, policies and actions being taken or proposed, to address the equality and human rights issues identified in the assessment; and
  • Step 3. Report: Report annually on developments and achievements in implementing the Duty, and to make this report publicly available through their annual report.

Our Journey of Progress

In 2024, SEAI began its journey to work toward implementing the Duty. Under the direction of the SEAI Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee a Public Sector Duty sub-committee was formed with a view towards understanding and ultimately implementing the Duty on behalf of the organisation. 

From this sub-committee, a cross departmental working group comprising of 20 members was formed. Under the guidance of the PSD sub-committee, and with mentorship from Values Lab, the working group have developed four equality and human rights values that have emerged as part of its Implementation Plan using a values-led approach, developing a series of objectives and outcomes to embed the Duty in its processes.

These four interconnected values motivate SEAI’s commitment to equality and human rights:

  1. Respect
  2. Diversity
  3. Collaboration
  4. Just Transition

For each value, two statements are set out to capture the implications of these values for our implementation of the Duty in SEAI and provide the benchmarks for our ambition in our ongoing implementation of the Duty:

  • Statement of Priority – the implications of the value for what we seek to achieve as an organisation; and
  • Statement of Process – the implications of the value for the way we work in pursuing our priorities.

The equality and human rights values are specifically focused on and addressed to the identified groups for the Duty.

Key Documents

Advancing the Duty

SEAI demonstrates strong leadership in advancing and upholding the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty to a high standard, aligned with its goals and aspirations. We are actively embedding the Duty across the organisation through dedicated working groups, annual work plans, and publicly accessible progress reports. SEAI will continue to highlight developments, achievements, and key milestones in our annual report, corporate policies, strategic plans, and corporate plan. Our working group remains central to guiding, shaping, and overseeing the effective implementation of the Duty.

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