I am delighted to be here this afternoon to speak to you at the end of the seventh EU Diversity Charters’ Annual Forum.
I would like to thank the European Commission’s Directorate General for Justice and Consumers which led this initiative.
In this regard, I would particularly note the significant contribution of Tiina Astola, Director General for Justice and Consumers in the European Commission, and Cecile Kyenge who is a member of the European Parliament.
I hope that all of you who attended this conference will leave Dublin Castle today with an abundance of new ideas and a lot of energy to be devoted to enhancing diversity in your companies and in your lives in general.
I note that this conference is focussed on the promotion of diversity management in the workplace. Along with An Tánaiste who spoke this morning, I fully support this endeavour. Having diverse workforces can be a powerful engine for productivity and harmony if organisations are led and managed appropriately.
However, I would ask you to broaden your learning from this conference to affect also your lives beyond your working environment.
Earlier this year, I was appointed as Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration.
I have had a lifelong commitment to fairness, integrity and treating people in an impartial but caring way.
In my daily parliamentary and constituency work, I meet a large variety of people from a range of different backgrounds. I ensure to treat everyone that I meet in an open and welcoming manner and I endeavour to help where I can.
As Minister of State for Equality, it is part of my responsibility to oversee the implementation and ongoing development of equality legislation in Ireland. This legislation is vital to the workplaces in this country in ensuring that fairness is paramount in how employees, customers and service users are treated.
I will continue to keep the equality legislation under review and will propose changes where I feel that improvements to the daily lives and working lives of individuals in this country can be achieved.
In recent months, I have been meeting and working with a significant number of people who have diverse needs.
At the moment, one of my priorities is the development of the new National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy for the next four years.
It is acknowledged that Travellers and Roma in Ireland can have difficult hurdles to overcome.
I can reassure you that there is ongoing dialogue between Ireland and the European Commission on Traveller and Roma issues. We are active members of the EU network of National Roma Contact Points. My Department has also recently established a Roma Committee so that the Roma voice in Ireland is strengthened.
Yesterday, there was a series of bilateral meetings, coordinated by my officials, with a visiting delegation from the European Commission some of whom are present at this conference today. Those bilateral meetings were to discuss issues relating to Travellers and Roma. There was very open and fruitful engagement from both sides.
In addition, I would like you to know that there is a comprehensive consultation process currently underway, led by my Department, to develop a new National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy. That Inclusion Strategy is intended to bring about real improvements to Traveller and Roma communities in Ireland.
Phases 1 and 2 of that consultation process, which identified key themes and high level objectives for the Inclusion Strategy, have been completed.
The final phase, Phase 3 which has helped to identify detailed actions to achieve each agreed objective, with associated time-scales, key performance indicators, institutional responsibilities and monitoring arrangements is nearing completion.
This consultative process will provide a new set of specific, inter-Departmental actions that need to be taken to bring about a real improvement in quality of life for Travellers and Roma communities in Ireland. We are also examining in the context of the new Strategy the recognition of Travellers in Ireland as a specific ethnic group of the Irish nation, with their own unique heritage, culture and traditions. My Department and the national Traveller organisations have undertaken and continue to do substantial work in this area.
It is intended that the new Inclusion Strategy will run from 2016 to 2020 and that it will be in place later this year.
As part of Phase 3, regional public consultations took place in September 2016. I attended two of those public consultations and felt that attendance and participation were encouraging and positive. A lot of progress can be made on difficult issues where Departments, NGO's and civil society work together effectively.
I plan to submit the final draft of this Inclusion Strategy to Government before the end of 2016 for consideration and sign-off. Implementation then becomes my key priority for 2017. I have been successful in obtaining an additional €1m in Budget 2017 to support Traveller initiatives, bringing the total fund available to some €3m. This money will support the advancement of the new Strategy in two ways. Firstly, we will support grass-roots Traveller community development projects to work with their community at local level, including to act as a bridge between Travellers and local authorities and other statutory services.
Secondly, we will design and start to implement – in partnership with Traveller organisations and all relevant Statutory agencies, including An Garda Síochána – a sustained and long-term programme to work with the Traveller community to bring feuding to a definitive end. Feuding is a scourge that causes immense harm within the Traveller community and is linked to many of the other challenges and social problems Travellers face.
In tandem with the Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy I have just mentioned, there is work ongoing in my Department in relation to the issues facing people with disabilities in Ireland under the leadership of the Tánaiste and Minister of State McGrath.
Public consultations on a draft Disability Strategy are taking place at the moment in Dublin, Cork and Tullamore. I welcome the participation of the National Disability Authority, the various NGOs in this field and interested individuals and organisations. I would like to express my thanks to all involved in this process.
I hope that the Disability Strategy will result in real and positive change in the lives of those in our community who live with disabilities.
I have indicated that, in the coming months, I would like to build on the positive momentum which arose from last year’s historic Marriage Referendum.
The wonderful outpouring of positivity for the LGBTI community in Ireland, which that Referendum brought about, is warmly welcomed. Unfortunately, however, that wave of positivity does not necessarily mean that the lives of LGBTI people are safe or free from difficulty.
For that reason, I will shortly commence working with my officials and the relevant NGOs to develop a new LGBTI Inclusion Strategy. We have had some initial meetings already to get this process started. This Inclusion Strategy will be conducted on an inter-Departmental basis.
There will be in a strong foundation for this Inclusion Strategy whereby responsibility for implementation for each of the identified actions will be clearly allocated.
In these changing and challenging times, with migration featuring strongly in all EU countries and across the world, we have an increasingly diverse population. In turn, we are faced with an accompanying range of benefits and challenges coming from that diversity.
The Irish have, for centuries, been a people which, by choice and by necessity, have had to migrate from our country. While there have been many success stories for Irish migrants, many have also faced racism, segregation and unwarranted negative publicity. The cruelty of signs on doors saying “No Irish need apply” still resonates with us.
Therefore, it is important for us all to realise the difficulties faced by migrants to Ireland and to the EU. We have a moral and social duty to assist those most in need and to present a welcoming environment to the greatest extent possible.
It is blatantly apparent to me that many of those most negatively affected by the biases and prejudices which unfairly attack diversity are those people that are the poorest. Surely we can work together to help the most vulnerable people around us?
In my capacity as Minister of State, I also have an extensive range of responsibility relating to integration. A review of our approach to the integration of migrants in Ireland was launched in 2014. That review provided the basis for a new and updated Migrant Integration Strategy which will be completed in the coming months.
The new Migrant Integration Strategy will include a strong anti-racism component with specific areas for action to promote intercultural awareness and to combat racism and xenophobia.
In the 21st Century, we have seen an increasing frequency of anti-migrant sentiment. One could say that that equates to an anti-diversity sentiment. We need to work together to counter unfounded negative reactions and fears.
We all have to remember when we go home in the evenings to our loved ones that there are many people are not so fortunate. Diversity, if it is not handled fairly and appropriately, can lead to isolation of those most unable to deal with it. What does it cost any one of us to be friendly to those who are new to our shores or new to our organisations, or to be kind to someone who is elderly and alone, or to give a little additional assistance to a person with a disability?
It is incumbent on all of us to remember our responsibilities to our fellow human beings and to accept and welcome diversity.
You as employers and employees need to ensure to put in place ways to integrate people from different backgrounds. In terms of basics, all employers need to look at putting in place informal ways for employees to get to know each other. In addition, regular formal training in diversity, disability awareness and the obligations arising from equality legislation is vital.
We need to find ways to build empathy in ourselves and in our colleagues and to build ways to understand each other’s views even if we do not agree with them.
The huge advancements in technology has meant that it is now possible to spread news from one side of the globe to the other in mere seconds.
Unfortunately, the amazing power of technology (including social media) is now often harnessed to spread invective, hurtful mistruths, sexist and racist insults.
This, I believe, has helped to fuel or exacerbate significant problems in our modern society. Such problems include chauvinism, anti-migrant sentiment, the disregarding of our elderly, taunting of people with disabilities and many other issues and challenges. It has also contributed to a society where image and materialism appear to count for everything.
As employers, I would urge you to ensure that your employees are made aware of the dangers of engaging in such negative and corrosive behaviour. I would also recommend that those of you who do not already enforce social media policies in your organisations to guard against negative commentary should do so as soon as possible.
As employers and employees – and in turn as consumers, customers and service users ourselves – we must all strive to treat all people from a diversity of backgrounds in a consistently fair manner. I would ask you to ensure that your companies lead the way in this regard and act as good examples to others. The lasting effect of your efforts on society overall could be profound.
Thank you.