Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Fitzgerald.

Let me refer to the cutbacks in the budget affecting the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority. The cutbacks proposed are 26% and 43%, respectively, whereas the allocation to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is reduced by 4%. I question the motivation of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, in regard to the allocations to these two bodies. I believe the Minister is acting in a mala fides manner with these disproportionate cutbacks.

The work of these bodies has been touched upon in this House. Both have a very important function. The Irish Human Rights Commission acts in respect of the Good Friday Agreement. The president of that body has a particular standing in law to ensure compliance with constitutional rights and freedoms and with rights and freedoms guaranteed by any international agreement, treaty or convention. This body has a very important role to play in implementing conventions from the United Nations and the Irish Council of Europe and rights derived from the EU treaties.

The Government was embarrassed by the report of that body in respect of extraordinary rendition and the manner in which the Government has operated in that arena has not reflected well on this country. It is important and self-evident that this body has an important role to play in ensuring oversight of the Government's activities in this area. The Equality Authority is the designated body under EU law which ensures that principles of equality are respected in many areas.

The Minister came to the House yesterday and suggested that a Fianna Fáil-led Government had established the Criminal Assets Bureau. He was corrected and told it was a Fine Gael-led coalition Government, from 1994 to 1997, that established that body. In response to a request that assets confiscated by the CAB would be ring-fenced to help the communities most affected by the scourge of drug addiction, the Minister made the excuse that there is a variability in the value of the assets confiscated and that this would be somehow troubling to the voluntary bodies involved in drug treatment. That is an entirely fallacious excuse.

The Minister's excuse for the cutbacks in the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority is that——