Professor Siobhán Mullally:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee. We are delighted to be here this morning and we thank the committee for the invitation to appear. My colleagues have asked me to give a brief opening statement on behalf of the members designate of the IHREC. I understand the committee would like to discuss any suggestions and proposals we as members designate may have on our future role within the commission.

This year, 2013, marks the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement, which was the catalyst for deepening and strengthening the human rights and equality architecture in Ireland. The challenges facing human rights and equality are many, but we also believe opportunities now arise and we are keen to see these realised during the terms of our mandates. The financial crisis and austerity measures have created significant hardship for many people and raise very pressing questions of human rights, justice and equality. As members designate of the IHREC, we are acutely aware of the need to ensure the new equality and human rights infrastructure that is being created must effectively promote and vindicate the rights of all persons.

We have no doubt that this will be a challenging task. Both the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission, IHRC, have played important roles in the protection of the rights of some of the most vulnerable groups in Irish society. We are determined to build on this work and to ensure the IHREC will meet its objective of enhancing the protection of human rights, dignity and equality.

We are appearing today as members designate of the IHREC. We were formerly appointed members of the IHRC. Our status with regard to the Equality Authority has not yet been resolved, and the transitional arrangements on that are not yet complete. There are many challenging tasks facing the Equality Authority, both in terms of its ongoing work and in the context of preparations for a successful and effective merger. We are very hopeful that these transitional arrangements will be completed as soon as possible.

As members will know, the UN Paris Principles emphasise the critical importance of the independence of the selection and appointment processes for both commissioners and senior staff of national human rights institutions, NHRIs. To date, the selection committee appointed to oversee the nomination of commissioners designate has played a crucial role in establishing the credibility of the new body.

Concerning the appointment process for the chief commissioner, a similarly independent and transparent approach should be progressed without delay to ensure a person of the requisite abilities and qualifications can fill this key leadership role at the earliest opportunity.

With regard to the future development of the commission, sufficient resources both in terms of finances and staffing will be required to discharge properly the wide range of functions afforded to the IHREC, which include the new functions of a duty on public bodies to promote human rights and equality and to promote social cohesion through the integration of migrants and other minorities and the fostering of intercultural relations. The proposed new duties present important opportunities for us to transform how public bodies function and to address the pressing issues of integration, inequality and exclusion facing society. It will be of the utmost importance that the new commission commences its work on a sound financial basis to enable us to fulfil these tasks and to undertake new tasks that may arise, including, for example, possible functions under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the optional protocol to the UN committee against torture.

We will work hard to ensure the new commission will be accredited as an "A" status national human rights institution under the UN Paris Principles and that it will remain a strong and active member of Equinet in Europe. To this end, it will be essential to ensure the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill will be regarded internationally as a model of best practice and as an exemplar of what is required by the Paris Principles. We hope the Bill will be brought forward without delay to enable us to progress our work and the merger process effectively. As a commission, we will engage fully with this legislative process to support its successful progression.

As members designate and as appointed members of the IHREC, we have held two meetings to date and members are actively engaged in sub-committees on merger planning to progress our work effectively. It may be of interest to the committee to learn that the new commission has decided to respond formally to the interdepartmental committee report on the Magdalen laundries and, to this end, we recently wrote to Mr. Justice Quirke drawing his attention to the human rights and equality issues arising from the report. As members designate of the commission, we have been impressed by the constructive and positive engagement by the executive and staff of both the Equality Authority and the IHRC in the preparations for the merger process and in supporting the work of the commission to date. We believe that this commitment and professionalism bodes well for the success of the new commission’s work and for a successful merger process that will enhance the protection of human rights and equality in our State.

I thank the committee for its attention. We had a constructive and positive meeting yesterday evening with the Minister for Justice and Equality and his officials and we are hopeful we can progress our work effectively. We are also optimistic that we will have the capacity to do so. We very much welcome the opportunity to engage on a regular basis and we also welcome the committee's commitment to, and interest in, the development of a strong robust national human rights institution. My colleagues and I are available to respond any questions members may have.