The Office of Identity and Cultural Expression is a new public office created under the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022.

As a Body Corporate, a Board has been appointed and are the primary, independent decision-making and governance body chaired by Director, Dr. Katy Radford.  

The organisation is currently in its set-up phase. While the statutory functions of the Office will only commence once the relevant Commencement Order is made by the UK Parliament, preparatory work is under way to establish the office, develop corporate systems and prepare for the full exercise of duties under the Act.

Our Purpose

Once commenced, the principal aims of the Office, set out in the Identity & Language Act 2022 are:

• to promote cultural pluralism and respect for diversity in Northern Ireland.
• to promote social cohesion and reconciliation between those with different national and cultural identities.
• to increase the capacity and resilience of people in Northern Ireland to address issues related to differences in national and cultural identity.
• to support, and promote the celebration of, the cultural and linguistic heritage of all people living in Northern Ireland.
• Further functions include establishing the Castlereagh Foundation and the provision of grants for its establishment.

Functions and Duties

Its functions and duties, as defined in statue can be found in Part 7A
The Office must—

1. promote awareness of the national and cultural identity principles
2. monitor and promote compliance with the duty under section 78F(1), and
3. report to the Assembly about compliance with that duty

National and Cultural Identity Principles

The National and Cultural Identity Principles as outlined in the legislation require The Office to ensure that:

1. A public authority (by definition, an authority listed in Schedule 3 to the Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c.4 (N.I.)) must in carrying out functions relating to Northern Ireland have due regard to the national and cultural identity principles.
2. The “national and cultural identity principles” are —
   1. the principle that everybody in Northern Ireland is free to—
      1. choose, affirm, maintain and develop their national and cultural identity, and
      2. express and celebrate that identity in a manner that takes account of the sensitivities of those with different national and cultural identities and respects the rule of law, and
   2. the principle that public authorities should encourage and promote reconciliation, tolerance and meaningful dialogue between those with different national and cultural identities with a view to promoting parity of esteem, mutual respect and understanding, and cooperation.

It is understood that reference to a person’s national and cultural identity is a reference to a person’s religious belief, political opinion or racial group. “Racial group” has the same meaning as in the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Current status

As the office is still being established:

• The Office is not yet carrying out its full statutory functions.
• Work is under way to set up corporate systems and prepare for commencement.
• Further information will be added to this page as the office develops.

Contact

If you have a general enquiry during the set-up period, you can contact the Establishment Team:

Email: contact@oice-info.org