Ms Gr?inne Teggart:

I thank the Senator. I will begin by expressing our appreciation and that of the victims we work with for everything the committee has been doing on the Bill and in particular the focus and extent of activities that have been given to this. That is entirely proportionate to the significance of what we are trying to address and ultimately overturn.

On the interstate challenge, the Irish Government could challenge the Bill at the European Court of Human Rights as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. That has happened previously, as we have seen, in the context of torture, where it was Ireland versus the UK in the hooded men case. The Bill can be challenged by the Irish Government and that is the option we believe it should take here. The Bill would need to be referred to the European Court of Human Rights within four months of its being introduced. There are also other international mechanisms, such as the UN Human Rights Council. That said, a judgment from the ECHR would be very compelling and obviously also legally binding. The UK Government would then have to address the myriad deficiencies of the Bill.

The Bill could also be challenged by a body such as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission but we have separate situation there with the commission's being chronically underfunded for years. That weakens its current position and there is a question mark over the continuation of the underfunding and what that will mean for the commission's status. I understand that is something which is being addressed at the moment.

It is quite a short timeframe after the Bill becomes law but the Irish Government and all of us here can see a very clear trajectory for this Bill. We do not expect that the UK Government will listen to the concerns that have been expressed to an extent that would manifest in any meaningful changes to the Bill. Certainly, it is not one we see could be fixed. We are therefore in the circumstances of the Second Reading being due to happen in the House of Lords on 23 November. We do not yet have an exact timeframe for consideration Stage. Consideration Stage will be a critical moment for the Bill because it is the point at which amendments etc, will be considered. That usually happens a couple of weeks after Second Reading but it could well be late December or after Christmas that we see it. However, we expect the process will quickly come to an end. If and when the Bill becomes law, we need a plan, or certainly the Irish Government does. There has been mention of how victims and ourselves and others are considering various legal challenges but there is enough foresight and time here whereby we think the Irish Government can give consideration to what exact shape the challenge will take and then make plans to that end. That is something I will relay when I meet the Minister and in ongoing conversations with officials in the Department.