Addressing a ‘fragmented policy landscape’

In their submission, Ibec suggested the policy landscape relating to equality, diversity and inclusion is fragmented in nature, which makes their role more difficult in mobilising employers when a new policy or strategy has been developed. They suggested that it can be a difficult space for employers to navigate, “due to the significant complementarities and overlap between existing strategies as well as between successive strategies”. They recommended bringing these strategies together “into one workable strategy that makes a real impact for people in the workplace”. Given that a number of the Department’s existing strategies will come to a close in the coming years, Ibec suggested that there is an opportunity to establish one “National Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy”. This single strategy would “maintain the good progress of existing action plans, while facilitating a more comprehensive approach to equality, diversity and inclusion in Ireland”. They suggested this comprehensive strategy incorporates issues addressed in existing strategies, but also those not yet addressed, such as “the inclusion of intersex people, second generation migrants and diverse religions in Irish society”. Ibec stated that having:

one comprehensive national strategy would remove silos between these areas of strategic importance for equality, diversity and inclusion, and help to address how the intersectionality of issues such as race and gender identity impacts individuals and communities.

The need to adopt an intersectional approach was reiterated by the UNESCO Chair (ITT), who highlighted how “people are more than a single identity” and called for the SoS to “consider the way that people’s social identities can overlap and create compounding experiences of discrimination”.