Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The members of the deputation are welcome and I am glad to get the opportunity to meet them. I am a great admirer of the work that Amnesty International is doing. It is outstanding. In particular, I commend its work in the areas of female genital mutilation and Roma rights. They are important projects and I am pleased that Amnesty International is putting them forward. It was good to see that the Seanad and the Dáil passed a Bill on female genital mutilation, FGM. It was given full support by all sides.

Ms McGowan referred to the Istanbul convention. We held a considerable discussion on the issue last week because there was a lengthy debate about domestic violence. It is a considerable problem at the moment in the State. I note that the convention must be signed by ten states and we are not to the fore in that regard. We are not leading the charge. Does Amnesty International have an opinion on that? Should it be one of our priorities before the end of the Presidency that this State should sign up and lead by example? Instead of simply talking about human rights we need to practice them ourselves at home. We tend to be good at talking about these things but when it comes to implementing legislation at home we are seriously lacking.

I note Amnesty International's recommendations on treating migrants and asylum seekers fairly. I contend that they are somewhat mild-mannered, to put it mildly. We are seriously lacking in Ireland, especially in the area of direct provision, in which I have a specific interest. We should opt in to the EU reception conditions directive. I gather we are the only EU state that has not done so, apart from Denmark, whose reasoning was that it brought in legislation that went further than the directive. I would have thought that this measure could have been added to the list of actions in the review card which we could have taken during the Presidency to show how serious we are on that issue.

Where does Amnesty International stand on direct provision? Is the organisation concerned that there is a serious violation of human rights in the direct provision system in Ireland? Some of the organisations which campaign on behalf of people in asylum believe this is the case and they are concerned especially with regard to the European Convention on Human Rights and contraventions of the convention relating to direct provision. Specifically, there is concern about Article 8 which relates to the right to privacy and family life. I note the statement in the Amnesty International report that there are legal and political issues hampering the implementation or development of the EU Convention on Human Rights. Will the deputation expand on that and explain what exactly they mean and perhaps put it into lay parlance? Who is holding it up and why?

Amnesty International has made an important statement on corporate human rights. Since that was put together we have heard of the tragedy in Bangladesh and the people who died there. That focuses the mind on the necessity of working on corporate human rights. Has that event affected the dialogue on these issues?

Another important EU directive raised with us by the Immigrant Council of Ireland is the EU directive on the right to family reunification. There are particular difficulties in this regard. A study was done by the council relating to EU citizens having difficulty being reunited with family members or partners and so on.

Most of the groups who work as advocates on behalf of these people have been affected by austerity. What is the opinion of Amnesty International on the effects of austerity in the EU in respect of all the issued raised?