OCO progress on Public Sector Duty Commitments

As a public body and human rights institution, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) has a statutory obligation to have regard to human rights and equality considerations in the performance of our functions. This is known as the Public Sector Duty and is laid out in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 (IHREC 2014 Act).  Specifically, Section 42 requires public bodies, like the OCO, to eliminate discrimination, promote equality and protect the human rights of staff and its service users. The OCO is fully committed to fulfilling its Public Sector Duty and throughout 2025 has taken the following actions:

• Established a cross-unit and committed Working Group that meets monthly to ensure the OCO is meeting its obligations and to give feedback to staff
• All OCO staff have undertaken Public Sector Duty training provided by IHREC
• The OCO has delivered a workshop for staff in partnership with IHREC, where the core concept and vision of the Public Sector Duty was laid out
• Carried out a survey of OCO staff around the Public Sector Duty

The OCO is currently working on an assessment on the 3 pillars of the Duty and will put in place an action plan to address Public Sector Duty issues that focus on both staff and service users.

• 26 Meán Fomhair 2025
• Cineál: Ráiteas