Tony Kett (Fianna Fail)

I welcome this important Bill, the purpose of which is to give effect in Irish law to the provisions of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, more generally known as the Convention on Human Rights. The convention protects what are seen as basic civil and political rights in a democratic state. They are the rights to life, freedom of speech, freedom from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the right to freedom from slavery or forced and compulsory labour. There are many other basic rights which the people of this nation have enjoyed throughout our lives by virtue of the fact that we have been protected by the good Constitution our forefathers had the foresight to frame.

This legislation will lay the foundation for ensuring atrocities and dictatorships will become things of the past. One does not have to look far to see evidence of dreadful atrocities close to the European Union. They include the degrading and inhuman treatment of people in places such as Serbia and Iraq, which demonstrates the need for legislation such as this.

I have no doubt that when this Bill goes through the House and its provisions are enacted throughout the European Union, the laws will then be in place to deal with the perpetrators of such actions should they ever come to pass.

As a nation, it appears that we are quite well placed to meet our obligations under the convention by virtue of having a formal Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution. It is acknowledged that Ireland is unique among member states of the European Union and other signatory states to the convention in having a written constitution which embodies a system of fundamental rights chosen by the people and which can only be changed by the will of the people. Our excellent human rights record before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is due in no small way to these factors.

It could be said to be somewhat appropriate, given the prominence of the ongoing major challenges facing the peace process in Northern Ireland, that we are deliberating on the European Convention on Human Rights at this time. It was precisely on the basis of our commitments in the Good Friday Agreement that the Government decided to bring forward measures to strengthen and underpin the constitutional protection of human rights in the State by drawing on the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. In some ways it is a matching, reciprocal Bill that mirrors the 1998 Human Rights Act of the United Kingdom, which took full effect in October 2000 and has special significance for Northern Ireland.