The Art of Communication: - Derry City Council

2.5 Equality, Good Relations and The Northern IrelandAct 1998A number of important pieces of legislation set the legal framework in Northern Irelandregarding anti-discrimination statutory duties in relation to areas such as Equality andGood Relations. Associated legislation places specific duties on public authorities such asdistrict councils and, therefore, has implications for the work of their Environmental Healthdepartments.Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 places a statutory obligation on publicauthorities (including district councils) to ensure that, in line with their responsibilities, allfunctions and duties are delivered with due regard to the need to promote equality ofopportunity… between persons of different… racial group[s] (Equality CommissionFor Northern Ireland, 2005). In addition, under Section 75 (2) of the Northern Ireland Act1998, public authorities (including district councils) in carrying out their functions relatingto Northern Ireland, must have regard to the desirability of promoting GoodRelations between persons of different… racial group[s] (Equality Commission ForNorthern Ireland, 2007).It is not sufficient that the Council merely translatesexisting material into community languages if itwants to communicate with non-English speakingresidents. Consideration needs to be given to whatis to be communicated, to whom and how thatmessage is to be delivered to the target audience(Sills and Desai, 1996).16The Art of Communication: A landscape shared between regulator and ethnic employer