Ms Sinéad Gibney:

I am chief commissioner for IHREC. The commission is Ireland's independent national human rights institution and the national equality body.

I am joined today by Les Allamby and Geraldine McGahey who are the chief commissioners, respectively, for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, NIHRC, and the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland, ECNI. In Northern Ireland there are two separate national bodies for human rights and equality, whereas here we are a merged institution, following the merger of our two legacy bodies in 2014. We have co-ordinated our opening remarks today to maximise the time we have and to leave plenty of opportunity for questions. I will give some background to the three organisations and some details of the work we have done on Brexit, particularly as the joint committee of the two human rights organisations. Ms McGahey will then cover the establishment of the dedicated mechanism through Article 2 of the Northern Ireland protocol, and its all-island scrutiny. She will also talk about the importance of non-diminution of rights and of keeping pace. Mr. Allamby will then focus in on today's agenda of citizens' rights, including freedom of movement, cross-border issues and citizenship.

Our three organisations - I include here the legacy bodies that preceded the IHREC merger - are all about 20 years old. We are a great example of North-South co-operation, with good relationships enjoyed between all three organisations. IHREC and the ECNI were founding members of Equinet, the European network of equality bodies, and we have worked together on equality issues over those two decades. IHREC has a more formal co-operative arrangement with the NIHRC rooted in the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement. As committee members may know, that agreement laid the groundwork in 1998 for the establishment of new human rights commissions in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It set out the importance of maintaining existing rights and protections, bringing the standards of rights to an equivalent level, and building on those into the future. The agreement also established a joint committee of the two human rights commissions, to foster collaboration and co-operation between the two organisations. The first official meeting of that joint committee took place in November 2001 and it has since then been an important forum for ongoing engagement and collaboration on human rights issues across the island. In recent years the joint committee has had a particular focus on the human rights and equality implications of Brexit. The equality and human rights framework, which underpinned the 1998 agreement had assumed both countries continuing common membership of the European Union. Following the 2016 UK referendum to withdraw UK membership, both commissions agreed that this potentially created significant risks for rights protection and for the effective functioning of the 1998 agreement. The joint committee identified the following six priorities for ensuring the ongoing protection of rights on the island of Ireland: ensure commitment to there being no diminution of rights is evident and enforceable in the final withdrawal agreement; safeguard North-South equivalence of rights on an ongoing basis; guarantee equality of citizenship within Northern Ireland; protect Border communities and migrant workers; ensure evolving justice arrangements comply with commitment to non-diminution of rights; and ensure continued right to participation in public life for EU citizens in Northern Ireland. The joint committee has addressed these concerns in a series of publications including our March 2018 policy statement on the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, and important discussion papers and research studies on Brexit, the common travel area, justice arrangements, EU citizenship rights and the birthright provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.

In progressing this work, the joint committee engaged with policymakers and civil society in Ireland and Northern Ireland, with both Governments, and with the European Commission's Article 50 task force. Through both the joint committee and now the dedicated mechanism, which unites us with the NIEC, we will continue this work. There are significant issues of which we need to be mindful on an all-island basis as the relationship evolves between the UK and the EU. They include those frontier workers and migrant workers whose livelihoods are dependent on the free flow of people and clear and consistent employment practices; those accessing cross-border services, for example childcare and healthcare and; those who may have their traditional ways of life challenged, including Traveller and Roma communities. My colleagues will go into more detail on some of those in their comments.

The reality is that Covid-19 and the restrictions that are only now beginning to ease have masked the immediate consequences of Brexit. As lives and movement return to normal, we will start to see more of the real impact it has had on rights and equality. We are committed to doing all we can as the human rights and equality body for this jurisdiction, working closely with the commissions in Northern Ireland and with civil society, to protect and promote rights and equality for everyone on the island of Ireland. I look forward to our discussion. I will now hand over to Ms McGahey.