Professor Gerard Whyte:

I thank the Chairman and members for this opportunity to speak briefly about my experience and expertise in this particular task. This expertise and experience falls into three categories. First, my academic work. I am a professor of law at Trinity College Dublin with a particular interest in Irish constitutional law, with a particular focus on the fundamental rights provisions, including protection for socio-economic rights. I also teach and research in an area called public interest law which examines how the law may be used to protect the interests of minority groups. In that capacity I have engaged in research on the rights of people with disabilities, Travellers, children with learning difficulties and social welfare claimants. I have also written on the area of access to legal justice and general equality in social welfare matters.

The second context in which I refer to my experience relates to my voluntary work with a number of NGOs working mainly in the area of social exclusion. I have served on the management boards of the Northside Community Law Centre and am currently involved with the Mercy Law Resource Centre. I have also worked fairly extensively with NGOs such as the Free Legal Advice Centres, the Irish Traveller Movement and Amnesty, both in relation to individual cases and on particular projects. I was also a member of the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace for a number of years.

Finally, I will note my work with some public bodies. I was a ministerial appointee to the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction and I was also appointed to the steering group on the Irish Council for People with Disabilities. That latter appointment, in particular, gave me insights into the position of people with disabilities. I was also retained by the Department of Social Protection to do some work on the compliance of the social welfare code with the principle of equality.