New guide encourages us to embrace cultural diversity and address racism in community and workplace settings

In response to meeting the growing need to foster greater inclusion, Fingal County Council has today launched a new step-by-step guide to help community, voluntary and workplace settings across the county to become Anti-Racist Organisations.

A first of its kind in Ireland, the comprehensive guide aims to equip organisations with practical strategies and resources to help dismantle systematic racism and anti-racist practices. It has been developed by the Fingal Integration team in collaboration with the Immigrant Council of Ireland and has been supported by the Irish Network Against Racism and the Irish Human Right and Equality Commission. The initiative taps into the expertise and experience on fostering change within workplaces by those organisations. It recognises the need for positive and meaningful action that can help create a more welcoming and proactive place for everyone.

Launching the guide, Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Grainne Maguire, said: “Fingal is also one of the youngest and most diverse counties in Ireland, with nearly one-fifth of its population identifying as non-Irish nationals. With such a large multicultural region, it is important that Fingal continues to welcome and respond to those who settle here. That is why we are today launching this step-by-step guide that we hope can help tackle the impacts of racism within workplaces and society at large.”

The step-by-step guide outlines four practical ways that businesses can adopt in their work environments and communities, irrespective of their current progress in anti-racism initiatives. Fingal hopes that the guide will help organisations in confronting racism effectively within the workplace, thereby fostering racial diversity and inclusion.;

Welcoming the guide, Minister for Community Development Joe O’Brien TD said: “This step-by-step guide provides a succinct and systematic approach in a workplace setting to take as they look to become actively anti-racist. It’s important that as well as tackling racist behaviour, that organisations also ensure that it is a safe place to be, where everyone should be able to talk openly about what racism is and what it means to different people. I would encourage everyone to be proactive in their approach to creating integrated and diverse workplaces that a free from discrimination and harassment.”

Interim Director of Housing & Community Development at Fingal County Council, Paul Carroll, said: “This is an important piece of work that has been made possible thanks to widespread collaboration by the stakeholders including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, and members of the community across Fingal, led by the committed staff of Fingal’s Community Development team. We expect this resource will become an invaluable tool in helping organisations to combat racist attitudes and behaviours, and we’re delighted that Fingal County Council has taken the lead in this regard at a national level.”

Alongside development of the guide, Fingal has been working to raise greater awareness of how people can report incidences of racism. Through the council’s collaboration on the SALAAM Project - which is funded by the EU Commission with Limerick University, Irish Network Against Racism, Doras and the Immigrant Council of Ireland - Fingal has today launched a webpage offering clear guidance for individuals wishing to report a racist incident, whether for themselves or on behalf of another person. This offers comprehensive instructions on the reporting process and where to seek help: https://www.fingal.ie/how-report-racist-incident.