05.3 Traveller Accommodation Unit The Traveller Accommodation Unit (TAU) is a dedicated unit of the wider Housing Directorate of Cork City Council for the management of issues specifically relating to Traveller accommodation needs. The TAU is responsible for the implementation of the TAP. The Council’s TAU comprises of six full-time staff members who work with the over 500 Traveller families within Cork City. The unit has had its own dedicated Traveller Liaison Officer in place since February of 2023. 05.4 Recognition of Traveller Ethnicity Travellers were formally recognised as a distinct ethnic group within Ireland in the Dáil Éireann on the 1 st of March 2017. It is a policy of the Council to provide high quality accommodation based on the distinct needs of this ethnic minority. The formal recognition of Travellers as an ethnicity further reflects that Travellers are a community within Irish society that face specific challenges that require specific, thoughtful solutions to be meaningfully addressed. Cork City Council were the first local authority in Ireland to support the recognition of Irish Travellers as an ethnic group, and the Council are dedicated to their continued support of the Traveller Community. 05.5 Public Sector Duty As set out in Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, under the
Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (‘the Duty’), all public bodies in Ireland are obligated to:
Eliminate discrimination;
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Promote equality of opportunity and treatment for staff and persons to whom it provides services; and
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Protect the human rights of staff and services users.
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The Public Sector Duty requires a public body, having regard to its functions, purpose, size and resources available to it, to:
Assess - set out in its strategic plan an assessment of the human rights and equality issues it believes to be relevant to the functions and purpose of the body; Address - set out in its strategic plan the policies, plans and actions in place or proposed to be put in place to address those issues;
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Report - report on developments and achievements in its annual report.
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Implementation of the Public Sector Duty will have regard to the functions of Council in relation to the preparation of the Traveller Accommodation Programme 2025- 2029.
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Cork City Council | Traveller Accommodation Programme 2025-2029
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