Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am glad to hear Deputy Keating's concluding remarks to the previous matter because I thought job creation is the best way of moving people off those queues.

I thank the Minister of State for dealing with the Topical Issue Matters. It looks like he is a one-man Cabinet today dealing with topics such as small business, social protection, justice, defence, equality. I presume this is because of the week it is, when people are away for St. Patrick's day.

I welcome Ireland's participation in the UN universal periodic review process which is an important process in which to be involved. This gives UN member states the opportunity to voice their opinions and make recommendations on this State's obligation to human rights and whether it is to accept, partially accept or reject them.

The response to the latest report was made public last Friday and I wish to comment briefly on some of the aspects of that response. One of the responses to the optional protocol and the rights of persons with disability is that Ireland is committed to ratifying that UN convention. The legislative and administrative procedures must be put in place to enable the State to ratify the convention but I have not noticed any haste to do so. This Government has made some progress as regards the legislation on mental capacity the heads of that Bill being currently before the justice committee. There is a concern that what is being proposed in that legislation will not satisfy the criteria for meeting the ratification of the UN convention. It is very important that this legislation meets the requirements for ratification of that convention. I ask for some form of commitment from the Government that this will be the case and that any legislation introduced in this area will meet those commitments.

I do not wish to use the word, "laughable", but I refer to the State's response contained in 107.49 regarding the issue of our obligations on human rights. The Government has claimed that the human rights of all residents are already comprehensively protected by the Constitution of Ireland which, in effect, constitutes a bill of rights for this State. I regard this type of statement to be warped. The Constitution states that a woman's role is in the home; that children have no rights outside of the family unit; and it defines the legal family unit as being based on marriage. It refers to the right to own property but it does not refer to the right to a home, to a roof over one's head, the right to a job, nor does it refer to the right of access to medical care. These are all rights which, in my opinion, -----

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Deputy, the four minutes speaking time is concluded.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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-----should form part of any bill of rights. I find that statement to be offensive and the Government needs to address it.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy O'Brien for raising this important matter. The universal periodic review

UPR, process was initiated in 2008 by the UN Human Rights Council, HRC, and is a process whereby the domestic human rights records of all 192 UN member states are reviewed every four years. The process is important in raising awareness of standards with regard to human rights on a global level. This is Ireland's first review under the UPR mechanism and it has been a very useful and constructive exercise which provided the opportunity to examine the overall situation of human rights in Ireland. Early in 2011, we sought submissions from civil society and members of the public and in May and June, we held a series of public consultation meetings around the country to give individuals and groups the opportunity to raise human rights issues of concern to them. The issues highlighted informed the drafting of Ireland's first national report which was prepared with the assistance of an interdepartmental committee, on which all relevant Departments were consulted, and which was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on 4 July 2011.

My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, represented Ireland at the interactive UPR dialogue in Geneva on 6 October 2011, at which delegations from 49 UN member states made comments. Of the 127 recommendations made to Ireland by other member states, we accepted 62 and rejected 15 at the formal adoption of Ireland's national report on Monday, 10 October. Ireland undertook to give careful consideration to a further 50 recommendations and provide a response by 29 February 2012.

The final stage in this round of the UPR process for Ireland is the adoption by the Human Rights Council of a report on the review of Ireland during the October session. This report is prepared by a working group of the Human Rights Council. In addition to the responses by Ireland to those recommendations which were addressed in October, the report will contain as an addendum Ireland's response to the remaining 50 recommendations mentioned earlier. This final report will then be adopted at the 19th session of the HRC in Geneva on Thursday, 15 March 2012.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that of the 50 outstanding recommendations, Ireland fully accepts 29, partially accepts a further 17 and is unable to support only four. The format of the addendum allows us to include a concise explanation as to our response to each individual recommendation. Anybody who wishes to view the recommendations and Ireland's responses can access the addendum in the reports section of our UPR website, www.upr.ie. The adoption of the report on Ireland will be webcast live from Geneva on Thursday from 10.30 a.m. and will be available on the UN's website at www.unmultimedia.org.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. There is a difference between accepting the recommendations and putting in place the procedures to allow us to move forward. The issue of human rights cannot be held back by resources or finance. It is very important this Government is focused on human rights and on its obligations.

In some of the responses, it is a case of wait and see whether we are actually committed. One of the recommendations put to us was to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, such as women, the elderly, people with disabilities and the Traveller community. In our response, we said we were strengthening the framework we had in place by amalgamating the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission. To say that is very premature because we have not seen the Bill on the amalgamation of both of those organisations. We do not know what is contained in it, so we cannot say for certain whether we will strengthen the framework or weaken it. That is important.

There is a wait and see approach in regard to some of them but I commend the Government on the issues which it has accepted. We must place a greater focus on and do a lot more work on this. I do not believe anyone in this House would oppose putting in the proper resources to enable us to meet our obligations.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Those recommendations we were unable to accept, either at the original session in October or in terms of the addendum to the report which will be discussed on 15 March, raise serious issues where different rights and different issues of public policy need to be balanced. Ireland is committed to meeting the highest standards of human rights but, as the Deputy will appreciate, it takes time to deal with difficult issues, in particular those with resource implications. Where there are competing rights, there may be no simple answer and, on this side of the House, our responsibility is to solve problems in a sustainable way and at time to balance competing rights and interests in a way that is fair to all and complies with our constitutional obligations.

We are very grateful to everybody whose participation helped to make the process so meaningful and constructive. Civil society and NGOs engaged thoroughly with us to raise awareness of the UPR mechanism in general and we are keen to maintain the excellent working relationship established during this first UPR cycle - the Deputy's points have been taken on board by the Minister, Deputy Shatter - which will be a most positive and constructive element as we all work towards our common goal of striving to improve human rights in Ireland.

The most important phase of this entire process is the implementation of the commitments we have made. That is the most important thing.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Resources cannot be an excuse for not-----

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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That is the balance. The Minister is very determined.

We consider some recommendations to have already been implemented while other areas of implementation are underway, as indicated by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, at our review in October. As we are all aware, the protection and promotion of human rights require continuous review and updating. As society evolves, so must our response to the challenges and dangers to fundamental rights and freedoms. It is particularly important to us that in the years leading up to our next review, the momentum which we and all stakeholders set in train for the first UPR cycle is not lost and we will continue to work on making Ireland a fairer place in which to live.