Ms Alyson Kilpatrick:

How the Deputy concluded her question is probably the most relevant point. If everything had been implemented, this probably would not have any potential to pass through. She asked about the charter of rights for the island of Ireland. That, of course, is different from the bill of rights for Northern Ireland. We would say the bill of rights is still an unfulfilled commitment in Northern Ireland and has its own very specific place and purpose. That was agreed by the special committee set up to look at it but it just could not be agreed in its content.

The legacy Bill is troubling in all its parts. The temptation to try to fix it bit by bit to make it approach something that is acceptable in human rights terms is very tempting but is simply not possible. I am not being asked as a politician and a representative of any group or society generally. I am being asked as chief commissioner of the NIHRC whether this is compatible with human rights standards as they exist at the moment. My very clear and strong advice and that of my colleagues in Northern Ireland is that it is not and, therefore, it is not really for us to say it could be made compliant because we do not see simple fixes to this. By starting to offer amendments, we get into the territory of making it even more messy. It is so fundamentally different from the state's obligation under the European convention that I cannot really take it any further.

The Deputy asked specifically about an interstate case. That is not really for me to comment on or try to influence. Clearly, that is a possibility that is available. It may be the most obvious course. I certainly agree with her in that I do not think the Bill is compatible and, therefore, other people must decide what they do about that. The commission can also take its own motion cases but for a number of reasons, with which I will not trouble the committee now, that is probably not as effective and certainly not as speedy a response. An interstate case would be much faster. Others have written about this with far more conviction than I am able to give the committee today.