Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has today launched An Garda Síochána’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Strategy Statement & Action Plan 2020 – 2021.
The EDI Strategy & Action Plan identifies a number of priority actions that align with the external Diversity and Integration Strategy 2019 – 2021.
The short-term plan will assist An Garda Síochána in striving to ensure that all members of An Garda Síochána, Garda Reserves and Garda staff are unhindered by workplace discrimination regardless of age, gender, disability, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, race, religious belief, or membership of the Traveller community.
Through an 11-point Action Plan, An Garda Síochána has set out a vision to create a working environment in which all people are treated fairly and respectfully; have equal opportunities and resources; and can contribute fully to the success of An Garda Síochána.
• Establish an EDI Leadership Council and EDI Policy to set out a statement of standards.
• Provide EDI training to all personnel and introduce employee engagement on EDI matters.
• Continue to support work-life balance options, including family-friendly initiatives.
• An amended Uniform Policy to avoid inadvertent gender discrimination.
• Develop a Gender Identity Policy.
• Identify and resolve key challenges related to the recruitment of individuals from minority background.
• Develop guidelines on the use of professional and non-discriminatory language in the workplace.
• Continue to support reasonable accommodation in regards to disability and mental health.
• Collect data on all grounds covered within the equality legislation and within the bounds of data protection.
Over the next 18 months, the necessary resources, leadership and infrastructure will be put in place to see this Strategy and Action Plan through to its successful completion.
Commenting on the launch of the Strategy, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said, "Fostering and increasing diversity and inclusion in our organisation is not only the right thing to do, but also improves service delivery by benefiting from the talents and life experience of people of all backgrounds.
"Our vision is to create a working environment in which all Garda personnel are treated fairly and respectfully, have equality of opportunity and resources, and can contribute fully to the success of An Garda Síochána.
"By this and other means we aspire to attract a diverse pool of applicants to join the organisation as we strive to reflect the diversity of the community we serve.”
The Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Statement & Action Plan which is introduced as part of the Government's A Policing Service for our Future Plan, will lay the foundations to drive the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda forward within An Garda Síochána. It further embeds our Code of Ethics and reinforces key ethical behaviours in An Garda Síochána to support the delivery of an effective policing service.
The strategy is consistent with the themes and objectives of the following organisational policies:
• Strategy Statement 2019 – 2021
• People Strategy 2019 – 2021
• Diversity & Integration Strategy 2019 – 2021
• Ethics Strategy 2019 – 2021
• Human Rights Strategy 2020 – 2022
• Findings of the Cultural Audit
• Initiatives under the Implementation Plan, A Policing Service for our Future, for the Report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.
The Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Statement & Action Plan 2020 – 2021 is available here: https://www.garda.ie/!3UHV2P
