Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the presentation by Dr. Smith and Professor McWilliams. It is a very important subject which sadly has regressed since 1998 instead of going forward. Professor McWilliams mentioned that the bill of rights has come out of a peace agreement. That is an international agreement as well. The Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron's language when he talks about scrapping the Human Rights Act shows real right-wing Tory disrespect for an international agreement which his Government had entered into. People should not be open to persuasion on this.

Professor McWilliams mentioned that she campaigned in favour of the Good Friday Agreement when other political parties in Northern Ireland did not. It was endorsed by more than 70% of the electorate in Northern Ireland and by 94.3% of the electorate in the South. The bill of rights is an integral part of that agreement. The people have given a mandate to the governments and to the Executive in the North to implement it and it is most disappointing that it has not been done.

The 1998 Human Rights Act was the vehicle whereby the British Government satisfied its commitment under the agreement for complete incorporation into Northern Ireland of the European Convention on Human Rights. Any scrapping or diminution in those provisions amounts in effect to the British Government walking away from an international agreement that it has made. As we know, this agreement has been lodged with the United Nations. As it is an international agreement, governments do not have the option of removing parts of it as they see fit or not implementing parts of it.

Sadly, the lack of movement on the bill of rights has not generated the awareness among the electorate at large that it should. The importance of a bill of rights in persuading people to support the Good Friday Agreement proposals in April and May of 1998, which Professor McWilliams mentioned, is of significance. She mentioned the input of civil society. It beggars belief that the civic forum has not been reestablished in Northern Ireland. That is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive and the parties the North. I do not see how a civic forum could threaten anybody. It does not threaten society, or any particular political tradition or ideology either. Perhaps the civic forum could as part of its work give some impetus to the governments, political parties and the Executive to put in place the bill of rights? It is an integral part of the Good Friday Agreement which the governments should not be allowed to walk away from.