Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I share the Minister's concern at the worrying rise of anti-semitism and the experience of much of the Jewish community in a number of EU member states. It is deeply worrying when one considers the lessons of the Holocaust and the evil that was perpetrated at that time against Jewish people and Gypsies. The Nazis slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Gypsies and Roma during the Holocaust and this is not often given the focus it needs. We need to learn the lessons of that period and I condemn the dangerous morons responsible for some of the incidents against the Minister in recent days. All right-thinking citizens utterly condemn such activity, particularly anti-semitism. It must be dealt with and hopefully those responsible will be brought to justice. I will focus on the issue of Gypsies and Roma.

We in this country are immensely proud of the boxer John Joe Nevin for his endeavours, bringing home gold and silver medals, and we wish him well in his professional career. There is an article in today's Daily Mailnewspaper in which Brenda Power users the opportunity of the attack on him to say:

And the media is terrified of appearing critical of "Traveller culture" of which feuding is the principal expression these days. When they're not beating their own cousins in family rows they'll also turn their hands to torturing and murdering old folk, and causing mayhem in school playgrounds as they set about one another with lethal weapons.

That is what Brenda Power refers to as "Traveller culture" in a newspaper today. I urge the IHRC to draw attention to that article. It is right and proper to condemn the attack on John Joe Nevin and violence from any source in this State, but not to condemn an entire people for the behaviour of some.

This article is representative of dangerous viewpoints that still exist in the State, which must be condemned and confronted directly.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill 2014 has been planned since the Government took power in 2011, but has been surrounded by much controversy, ranging from the delay in getting it here today, three years later, to the concern around whether the legislation complied with the UN principles for such bodies and the appointments process. My party and I are opposed to this legislation and this planned merger, and I am sure the Minister will understand why.

The Irish Human Rights Commission was established by the Human Rights Commission Act of 2000 and, for those who do not know, the establishment of the commission emanated from the Good Friday Agreement, which set up human rights commissions North and South. The Good Friday Agreement obliges the Irish Government to put in place comparable steps to those in the North to safeguard the rights of citizens. This included the obligation to "establish a Human Rights Commission with a mandate and remit equivalent to that within Northern Ireland as stated in the Good Friday Agreement rights and safeguards." There are two issues arising from this that I will mention briefly. The Irish Human Rights Commission in the South does not have the full range of powers available to the commission in the North, and therefore the equivalence obligation has already been ignored. The fact that the Government in the South is proposing to amalgamate the human rights and equality bodies will result in a mismatch of powers and obligations, and again the equivalence obligations are ignored. The Irish Government should retain the Irish Human Rights Commission as a sole body in the South and invest in it the broad range of powers available in the North.

This Bill is unpicking parts of the Good Friday Agreement. The British and Irish Governments are co-equal guarantors of the Agreement and it was also endorsed by the vast majority of people across this island. This Bill undermines the vote of the people and the political, democratic and peace process. The Government's proposal in front of us today undermines the Good Friday Agreement as a whole by sending a message to any party to the Agreement that the possibility exists to hollow it out one component at a time, and we have no doubt there are those who would wish to do so.

The potential of the agreements have not been fully realised and elements have not been implemented. This is the view expressed this week by the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. By beginning to unpick aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, this Government will lose the moral authority to challenge those who want to unpick the Agreement or refuse to implement it. We cannot afford to let this happen. It has already been a struggle to get where we are, and we need the Irish Government, as a co-guarantor of this Agreement, to ensure that it is taken seriously, promoting and progressing it rather than removing the parts it does not like. For what has this decision been taken? It has come about because the outcome is a nominal saving in an agency's budget. These savings could be realised elsewhere. This Bill is ill thought out and a counterproductive proposal, and even at this stage I am calling on the Government not to proceed with it. It is bad for human rights and equality in this State.

Since September 2011 my party has called on the Government to ensure that the merged bodies continue to benefit from the equivalency of human rights provisions set out in the Good Friday Agreement. This Government must recognise that under the UN Paris Principles, the Irish and Northern human rights commissions hold an "A" status rating, meaning that they must be appropriately mandated and financially secure to enable them to conduct their work effectively. The Good Friday Agreement provided for a joint committee of the two commissions to consider the development of a charter of rights for the island of Ireland. Whereas the two commissions completed a draft of the elements to be contained in the charter, there is still much work to be done. It is imperative that the new human rights and equality body is resourced and mandated adequately in order to carry on this work.

Sinn Féin, led by Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, introduced a Bill to the Dáil to strengthen the Irish Human Rights Commission following the Government's proposal of a merger with the Equality Authority. This Bill would have the effect of increasing the Irish Human Rights Commission's remit and would have given it the protection and status it deserves as a crucial element of the human rights provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. What we see here today is simply a cover for cuts, and both of these organisations are already under-resourced. I am particularly mindful of the resignation of Mr. Niall Crowley, who was chairman of the Equality Authority in 2008 when he was faced with a 32% cut in the authority's budget. It was an unworkable position; he did the right thing and the stand he took at the time was admirable. How could the equality infrastructure and citizens' rights be defended either in that authority or the Irish Human Rights Commission when their ability to do so is being worn away? How could these bodies be a cornerstone of the democratic process and protect citizens' rights while holding the Government to account and ensuring that the State implements and meets obligations to international human rights conventions while resources are being cut time after time? My party and I stand by the Human Rights Commission (Amendment) Bill 2011 as it is better for human rights in this State.

At this point I highlight as clearly as I can that the Labour Party was most vocal in its opposition to a proposed merger when Fianna Fáil and the Green Party were in Government. At the time, the current Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, accused that Government of "trying to turn back the clock on the equality agenda". He deemed such a merger an "ominous" proposal. It seems the position is now different for both the Tánaiste and the Labour Party. This evening I urge them to make their feelings known on this issue to their Fine Gael Government partners. How much longer can the Labour Party sit on the Government benches and bow down to Fine Gael?

This merger undermines the human rights provisions of the Good Friday Agreement and can only lead to a loss of focus and expertise. If the Government is to live up to its commitments under the Good Friday Agreement - an internationally recognised agreement - then it must ensure these institutions are protected. I call on all Members in this House to oppose the retrograde merger proposals of the Government.

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