Professor Colin Harvey:

It is important for the committee to ask the Irish Government the hard questions and ensure where there are areas in which it can take action to address some of the points we have raised, that such action is taken. If things can be done and the legal advice is that they can, why are they not done? While I acknowledge its enormous efforts in the negotiations, the Irish Government must follow through on some of this stuff too. The committee's role in that regard is important. One of the remarkable aspects of the Brexit process has been the mobilisation around rights and equality issues. It has given life and renewal to the work of the joint committee of the human rights commissions on the island of Ireland. That has been a great outcome. The joint committee has been doing great work which should be encouraged. Where this committee can support the work of the joint committee, I ask the members to think about how that work can be developed and deepened. The joint committee should be invited to meetings like this more regularly to speak with one or two voices on some of the human rights issues. Why not integrate the joint committee on human rights into the work of the committee across a range of issues, including some of the justice issues Ms Logan and Mr. Allamby have already mentioned? When policing and justice are being discussed, the joint committee and others should be invited to talk to the members here about that and about the human rights implications to mainstream its work. It is not all about the North. One could say there was a bit of a human rights and equality crisis in this part of the island also. That is obviously stark in terms of social and economic rights.