Public Sector Duty at the National Gallery of Ireland

Merrion Square entrance to the Gallery
Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

The National Gallery of Ireland is committed to fulfilling our obligations under the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty. As a public sector body, we strive to promote equality, protect human rights, and prevent and eliminate discrimination in all aspects of our operations, ensuring a respectful, accessible and inclusive environment for our visitors, staff, and stakeholders.

Understanding the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty

The Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (the “Duty”) is set out in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014. The Duty has two interconnected elements:

  • The Overarching Duty (Section 42(1)) - a continuing obligation for public bodies to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and equal treatment, and protect human rights for employees, service users and policy beneficiaries, across all functions.
  • The Strategic Duty (Section 42(2)) - a targeted duty linked to the organisation’s strategic, planning and reporting cycle. The Strategic Duty requires public bodies to undertake three steps:
    • Assess: Identify the human rights and equality issues that face the identified groups for the Duty and are relevant to their functions and purpose.
    • Address: Develop and implement policies, plans, and actions to address these equality and human rights issues.
    • Report: Document progress and achievements on the identified issues in their annual reports.

The identified groups for the Duty are those:

  • covered under nine protected grounds under equality legislation: gender (including gender expression, gender identity, and sex characteristics); civil status; family status (including lone parents and carers); age; disability (broadly defined to include all impairment groups); sexual orientation; race (including ethnic origin, nationality, and skin colour); religion; and membership of the Traveller community.
  • at risk of or experiencing poverty, the ground of disadvantaged socio-economic status.
  • individual rights holders under relevant international human rights instruments.

The Duty ensures that public bodies actively consider eliminating discrimination, promoting equality, and protecting human rights in their daily operations and decision-making.

Our approach

At the Gallery, we take a values-led approach to implementing the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (the Duty), ensuring that equality and human rights are embedded in all aspects of our work. Our Duty values are:

  • Dignity: Dignity means respecting people’s diversity and welcoming them into the organisation. It involves treating everyone fairly, avoiding bias and stereotypes, and building trust.
  • Inclusivity: Inclusivity means delivering positive outcomes for a diverse range of people through our functions. It means being relevant to, representative of, and a resource for, the diversity of our audiences and colleagues.
  • Engagement: Engagement means having a voice, being heard, and knowing that your perspective matters. It involves listening to and meaningfully considering the needs, aspirations and expectations of a diverse range of people.
  • Accessibility: Accessibility means recognising, and responding to the specific needs that arise from diversity. It involves addressing physical, digital, organisational, communication and emotional barriers that may be experienced by different groups.

These values guide our actions and decisions, ensuring that equality and human rights remain central to our mission.

Implementing the Duty

The Gallery has established a dedicated Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty Working Group, led by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Manager. Together, this group drives and supports  the ongoing implementation of the Duty across the organisation.

As part of this work, the Gallery has:

  • Developed an Equality and Human Rights Values Statement to guide organisational practice and establish our ambitions in implementing the Duty.
  • Completed a comprehensive assessment of equality and human rights issues facing the identified groups for the Duty and relevant to the Gallery’s functions and purpose, supported by an evidence book and informed by engagement with civil society organisations.
  • Creating a comprehensive implementation plan for the Duty

Implementation of the Duty is an ongoing process. The EDI Manager and Working Group continue to oversee delivery through annual work plans, regular monitoring, and alignment with the latest IHREC guidance.

Initiatives taken under the Action Plan 2025 include: 

  • Provided training on the Duty to  the Executive Leadership Team to enable their leadership for its implementation.
  • Conducted Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments (EHRIA) on key strategic documents in preparation, including the People Strategy and the Audience Strategy.

All documents are available below:

New action plans and progress reports will be added to this page as they are developed.

Contact us

For queries related to the Gallery and the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty, please email: [email protected]

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