Ms Emily Logan:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for accommodating us. We have a board meeting tomorrow. That is the reason we wanted to meet today.

Let me make some introductory remarks to put the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in context in relation to the committee's mandate. The commission was established in November 2014 as a single legal entity. It is an amalgam of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission. The most significant change is the commission's new level of institutional independence. This is demonstrated by having our own Vote and the fact that the 15 members of the commission were appointed by the President, Mr. Michael D. Higgins. As independent officers of the State, we account directly to the Oireachtas.

The 2014 Act gives us a range of powers, from promotion and education, raising awareness of equality and human rights to significant legal powers whereby we appear before the superior courts in cases as amicus curiae. Across that gamut, our role involves promoting human rights and equality standards.

In terms of where we sit globally, we are part of a regional equality and human rights mechanism. We link with our European counterparts and also strongly with the United Nations. We are obliged legally to report independently to the UN treaty monitoring mechanisms, the relevant one being the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which sat in June 2015. Essentially, the purpose of the commission in interacting with that committee is to engage in human rights and equality-based critiques of law, policy and practice. The commission's interaction with the committee was very unusual in the sense that UN committees do not normally get into the details of domestic financial matters.

I want to mention two comments that were significant. The committee criticised the State's response to the financial crisis, suggesting it had been focused disproportionately on instituting cuts in public expenditure in the areas of housing, social security measures, health and education without altering the tax regime. It was suggested many austerity measures had been adopted during and after the crisis but without a proper assessment across Departments of their impact on economic, social and cultural rights.

I will conclude on that point, but I wanted to put the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in context to ensure members would understand it was not simply an advocacy organisation but one that carried a variety of legal powers. They relate to economic, social and cultural rights and cover the gamut of equality and human rights.