Pavee Point welcomes the publication by the Government of Ireland’s first National Equality Data Strategy. We have long campaigned for ethnic data collection within a human rights framework, and this commitment by the Government to collect, use, and disseminate disaggregated equality data promises a new departure point for better and more inclusive policymaking from Government departments and local authorities.
Until now only a small number of public bodies have routinely collected and monitored equality data, resulting in poor statistical information guiding the hand of policymakers. The prolonged exclusion minority ethnic groups, including Travellers and Roma from national datasets has served to obscure experiences of marginalisation – and has rendered Travellers and Roma all-too-often invisible from targeted policies for social inclusion.
The Strategy includes four strands. Collection of Equality Data: to support the development of appropriate policy and service, and to identify address equality data gaps. Standards and Classifications for Equality Data: to harmonise, accurately use, and compare data across services. Use of Equality Data: to support evidence-based policy and support public bodies to fulfil obligations under the Public Sector Duty. Monitoring and Oversight of the Strategy: the Central Statistics Office and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to co-chair a Steering group to monitor progress of the Strategy.
Context
It is thirty years since the Task Force Report of the Travelling Community (1995) identified a lack of accurate information as a fundamental obstruction to the proper implementation of key health, education and training services for Travellers and Roma. The collection of disaggregated equality data for women and girls will mean that previously undetected processes of inequality and discrimination in policy formation can be identified and understood contextually. The new strategy will hopefully pave the way for the development and implementation of effective programmes and enforceable standards to ensure non-discrimination and facilitate the provision of culturally appropriate services for Traveller and Roma women.
The approval and publication of the National Equality Data Strategy from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and Minister Norma Foley, fulfills part of what has been a key strategic goal in the policy work of Pavee Point. The collection of equality data can ensure the effective delivery and accountability in the implementation of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy II (NTRIS II), and allow for the adequate budgeting of relevant Government departments and state agencies. It continues the process of redressing the marginalisation of Travellers and Roma that follows from ethnic recognition in 2017, and Pavee Point looks forward to working with policymakers on better informed policy strategies that serve the specific needs of Traveller and Roma women.
Read the press release from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and the strategy here: PUBLICATION: The National Equality Data Strategy