The Department contracted IPSOS to look at prevailing attitudes towards the different equality groups currently included in legislation, the proposed equality groups and any relevant intersectional groups where possible. Several attitudes surveys have been conducted before, most notably the National Disability Authority (NDA) and Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) in Ireland and the Eurobarometer and European Social Surveys for cross-national surveys. However, none of these surveys looked at all extant and proposed grounds in a systematically and comparative manner.

Therefore the Department determined that a comprehensive, statistically robust survey would be necessary to understand the totality of attitudes towards the different equality groups. Carefully designed survey data on societal attitudes towards groups protected under different Equality Acts and towards rights protected under international agreements can provide important information on the state of equality in Ireland and can potentially provide insights into the processes that produce and reproduce inequalities in Ireland. It is also important for the development of new equality strategies and action plans, and for guiding future expenditure.