Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

On 6 October 2011 I announced the terms of reference of the working group to advise me on the merger of the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority. At the time I made a clear statement that the new human rights and equality commission would retain all the statutory powers and duties of the existing bodies. The House will have an opportunity to consider whether that requirement is met when the relevant legislation comes before it in due course.

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