Dr. Mary Murphy:

It is probably fair to say the previous Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission probably did not engage in socio-economic rights agendas, but since its inception the current commission has been quite proactive in using whatever international mechanism are available to us to hold the Government to account on impact assessments and proofing. We received fairly strong recommendations from the United Nations committees in that regard which we have been trying to use, including in trying to open up the space to make arguments in favour of extending proofing and impact assessments, particularly of taxation policy, which has not been the culture in this country. We have already demonstrated a track record in terms of our seriousness in that regard which perhaps is encouraging.