Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Yesterday I attended an event hosted by Amnesty International to mark the 60th anniversary of the publication of the agreement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I spoke candidly at that event, probably too candidly, but I would like to use the opportunity of Report Stage to repeat much of what I said there because I stand by it.

I cannot understand why the original reference to human rights in the scheme of the Bill has been removed. I do not agree with that, although I am involved in a Government process that obliges me to accept it because it has gone through Government procedures. I already stated in my speech on Second Stage that I believe this is good legislation which is flawed as a result of that omission. This has not come about through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. As a result of general Government processes, concerns have been raised, not specifically political concerns, in other Departments.

There is a view that human rights in their widest aspect are not considered with unanimity as they should be. Human rights exist in different contexts as there are civic and political human rights, on which there is a broad degree of consensus. These include democratic principles and the involvement of people in civic life. There are other human rights, such as social and economic, which engender ongoing political debate.

As far as I and my party are concerned, these are also inalienable human rights, and seeking to afford those rights is part of the democratic role of any citizen. No political process should stand aside, whether informed by administrators or elective political representatives, from seeking that such rights be attained.

If the Minister is not prepared to address the issue, the existing operations under a human rights banner could find themselves with spurious and political challenges for existing or being seen to affect charitable operations in their status. One of the major bodies in the form of Amnesty International has special tax status only because of a particular Irish solution to the Irish problem of failing to recognise human rights in the widest sense. A former Minister for Finance, Richie Ryan, chose to grant the body that status in a Finance Bill. We should no longer have such machinations.