European Year of Equal Opportunities for all 2007

The European Year in Ireland

2007 has been designated as "European Year of Equal Opportunities for All" by decision of the EU Council and the European Parliament. The Equality Authority is the national implementation body for the European Year in Ireland.

Challenges
The Objectives
The Priorities and Related Actions
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1) THE CHALLENGES

The challenges for the European Year in Ireland are to secure a legacy

that will further enhance strategic action for equality,
that ensures that inequalities are addressed and eliminated,
where an ambition for equality is widely shared and pursued.

2) THE OBJECTIVES

The EU Council and the European Parliament have established four objectives for the European Year.

1. Rights

To further raise awareness of the right to equality and non-discrimination and of the problem of multiple discrimination.

2. Representation

To stimulate debate on ways to increase the participation in society of groups that are victims of discrimination and to ensure balanced participation among men and women.

3. Recognition

To facilitate and celebrate diversity and equality, emphasising the positive contribution that people, irrespective of their sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, can make to society as a whole, in particular by accentuating the benefits of diversity.

4. Respect

To promote a more cohesive society.

3) THE PRIORITIES AND RELATED ACTIONS

The Irish national strategy sets out six priority areas of activity through which to contribute to achieving these objectives.

Priority 1: Information and advocacy

Initiatives to enhance the provision of information on rights to groups experiencing inequality.

1.1 Action:

To carry out a research exercise on approaches by statutory bodies in other jurisdictions to the provision of information on rights and to create a forum for statutory information providers with a rights focus to share approaches and pool resources as appropriate.

1.2 Action:

To develop an initiative to train Threshold (a housing non-governmental organisation) staff with responsibilities for information provision in order to develop their ability to provide information on rights.

1.3 Action:

To develop a profile for the European Year.

1.4 Action:

To organise an exhibition in the Dublin offices of the European Commission on the contribution of the EU to the promotion of equality at Member State level.

1.5 Action:

To develop an initiative by the IMPACT trade union to assist migrant workers experiencing discrimination by preparing documentation and providing training to enhance the advocacy supports available to migrant workers.

Priority 2: Equality mainstreaming

Activities to emphasise the need to build an institutional infrastructure to ensure equality is a consideration in planning and policy making.

2.1 Action:

To develop an equality mainstreaming infrastructure to support providers of vocational education and training to incorporate an equality focus in their work.

2.2 Action:

To develop a tool to support the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) and its member Vocational Education Committees in equality proofing key policies and plans at key moments in their design and development.

2.3 Action:

To develop an equality proofing initiative with three government departments.

2.4 Action:

To develop a data initiative by the Central Statistics Office which will provide summary demographic and participation data across the nine grounds.

Priority 3: Equality competence

Activities to emphasise the need for institutional change to ensure organisations are effective in combating discrimination, making adjustments for diversity and promoting full equality in practice.

3.1 Action:

To develop an institutional capacity within public sector organisations to accommodate diversity, promote equality and combat discrimination by supporting institutions to be planned and systematic in their approach to equality for customers and employees.

3.2 Action:

To support an institutional capacity within the private sector to accommodate diversity, promote equality and combat discrimination by supporting employers to be planned and systematic in their approach to equality for customers and employees.

3.3 Action:

To organise an equality focus within the annual human resource conference of the Local Government Management Service Board in a context of their commitment to a planned and systematic approach to workplace equality in the Towards 2016 national agreement.

3.4 Action:

To establish a cross-company group in Pobal (a state company responsible for the funding of a broad range of social inclusion programmes) to develop current thinking within the organisation on social inclusion and link this to conceptual frameworks for the advancement of equality.

3.5 Action:

"Athlone Promoting Workplace Equality" will be explored and implemented as a project to support the further development of planned and systematic approaches to equality within enterprises in Athlone.

3.6 Action:

An Inter University Equality and Diversity Group will meet on a regular basis to share learning and good practice on equality.

3.7 Action:

To develop and implement an equality module within the Annual HR Survey of Chambers Ireland to explore and analyse employer perceptions in relation to equality, diversity and the proactive promotion of workplace equality.

Priority 4: Equality debate

Activities to engage key stakeholders in a national debate on issues of equality, diversity and discrimination.

4.1 Action:

To conduct a review exercise on the current roles and aspirations of the NGO sector in relation to representing the interests of groups experiencing inequality and to organise a conference on this theme.

4.2 Action:

To organise a conference to mark thirty years of gender equality legislation in Ireland.

4.3 Action:

To develop a public awareness campaign in relation to issues for people with disabilities.

4.4 Action:

To develop a public awareness campaign on ageism and older people.

4.5 Action:

To develop a public awareness campaign on work life balance.

4.6 Action:

To develop a programme of work with key media organisations to develop a focus on equality issues.

4.7 Action:

To stimulate debate within the political process.

4.8 Action:

To organise a colloquium on the promotion of equality within the life-cycle approach to policy-making and programme development as set out in the Towards 2016 national agreement.

4.9 Action:

To develop a series of five policy papers to shape the position of the Irish Congress of Trade Union on issues relating to equality in the workplace and to develop this focus within the Biennial Delegate Conference.

4.10 Action:

To organise a conference on Equality and the Irish Constitution to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Irish Constitution.

4.11 Action:

To incorporate a high profile equality theme as part of the annual conferences of Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) and Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO).

Priority 5: Burning issues

Activities to emphasise the need to make progress in addressing key issues of inequality.

5.1 Action:

A call for proposals from national non-governmental organisations will be issued so that projects can be supported to address fourteen equality issues identified as priorities across the nine grounds covered by the equality legislation.

Priority 6: Multiple discrimination

Activities to emphasise the need to focus on the identity, experience and situation of those groups at the intersections of the grounds covered by equality legislation.

6.1 Action:

To produce a booklet to develop an approach to combating multiple discrimination in relation to women and to inform gender mainstreaming within the strategy for the Year.

6.2 Action:

To inject a multiple identity dimension to the planning by Pobal of a cross-programme conference on the theme of disability.

6.3 Action:

To organise a seminar on diversity amongst older people focusing on the experience of migrants in Ireland as part of the 'Older and Bolder' Campaign.