Private sector employers should have a legal duty to put in place equality action plans, the head of the Equality Authority will tell a conference in Dublin today.
The authority's chief executive, Mr Niall Crowley, wants workers or trade unions to be able to take employers who have no such plans in place to the Equality Tribunal.
Mr Crowley will make his call for a statutory duty on employers and service providers to prepare and implement equality action plans at a conference on "Mainstreaming Equality" which will also be attended by the President, Mrs McAleese.
"These action plans should set out steps that the employers and service providers would take to comply with equality legislation, to make adjustments to take account of diversity, and to proactively pursue equality outcomes across our nine ground equality agendas," he said.
"They should fit neatly with traditional business planning processes and allow a planned and systematic approach by employers and services providers to equality objectives."
The Equality Authority has also recommended a statutory duty on public sector bodies to mainstream equality, through preparing equality action plans and conducting assessments on policies for their impact on people experiencing inequality.
Mr Crowley will highlight that this approach to policy-making "ensures policy and programmes are effective in meeting needs. It is democratic in giving an access to policy-making for those experiencing inequality. It ensures quality in that real needs are addressed."
The focus on these statutory duties is timely given the current work of transposing EU equality directives into the equality legislation, according to Mr Crowley.
He said we should look to Northern Ireland, where a statutory duty is imposed on designated public sector bodies to have due regard to the need to promote equality in carrying out their functions. This is particularly relevant given the commitment in the Belfast Agreement to an equivalence of rights, North and South.