Action 16 of the Our Public Service framework priority is to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). It is important that the public service achieves greater equality of opportunity, gender balance, diversity and inclusion across its workforce. It is also important that a consistent approach is taken, in line with equality legislation, to ensure that the Public Service is generally representative of society and respects and promotes human rights.

The cross-sectoral Action 16 Team identified a number of key issues that required careful consideration and a number of initiatives were developed including:

• The Development of a Vision Statement and principles;
• The Development of a Toolkit and Maturity Model;
• A ‘Consultation’ feedback exercise on the above documents with under-represented groups;
• “The Equality Diversity and Inclusion Vision Statement, Commitments, and Maturity Model for Public Service Organisations” was published May 2021;
• The EDI Maturity Model has been piloted in the Department of Justice and is currently being piloted in An Garda Síochána. Pending the completion of these pilots further resources and case studies will be added to the resource section.

If your public service organisation is in the process of developing an EDI strategy the Maturity Model can be an excellent tool to use on your EDI journey.

If you have developed an EDI strategy or EDI initiatives in your organisation, we would love to hear from you, with a view to sharing your journey with others. You can email us at action16@per.gov.ie 

The Action Leads are Drew Harris, An Garda Síochána, and, Oonagh McPhilips, Department of Justice.