Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I thank Senator Bacik for sharing her time. My party and I fully support the motion and I commend the Senators on putting it down. In recent times, under the cover of recession, the Government has systematically dismantled the human rights infrastructure of the State. In the case of the bodies whose finances are directly under its control it is doing this through crippling cuts. In the case of human rights NGOs it is using the Charities Bill to eliminate the progression of human rights as an objective for the purpose of registering as a charity. This means important public interest cases will not be brought before the courts. It means more people who are by definition vulnerable because their fundamental rights have been compromised will have to fight their fights alone, if at all.

We have heard about the Equality Authority's budget being cut by 43%. The recession is being used as an excuse to attack the Irish Human Rights Commission and to dismantle the human rights and equality architecture. This fact is also evidenced in the budget cuts to the Free Legal Advice Centres, 5%; the National Women's Council of Ireland, 5%; equality proofing, 30%; the new Cosc office to address domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, 18%; equality monitoring, 8%; gender mainstreaming and positive action for women, 45%; the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, 9%; and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, 5%.