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

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 20, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:“(7) The number of staff seconded to the Commission from the Department of Justice and Equality, or any other government department, should not exceed 25 per cent and never be more than 50 per cent of the total workforce of the National Human Rights Institutions. Senior level posts in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission are never to be filled by secondees from government departments.”.

What this amendment seeks to achieve is fairly self-explanatory, and it is to ensure, in as much as is possible, the independence of the new body. It should not be a matter of Department officials being seconded to this new body so we are trying to put a ceiling on the number of people who may be seconded to the new human rights and equality commission, as well as overall human rights institutions. This particularly applies to senior positions.

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