Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The House will note that a former Leader of the House, the former Senator Maurice Manning, who is now the head of the Irish Human Rights Commission, has expressed extraordinary concern about the fact that the commission is being deprived in terms of its budget to do the work that it has been set up by these Houses to do. It is also critical and concerned about the rushing through of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill. This is worrying. In other parliaments human rights commissions are answerable and accountable to parliament as opposed to be accountable to a Department. The work of a human rights commission by its nature will regularly involve criticism of Government proposals or assessment of Government progress on issues. In this context, the commission is vulnerable and exposed. My concern is that there would be a temptation on the part of the Government to starve it of further funds so that it could not do the job we set it up to do.

I ask that we get absolute reassurance that the Irish Human Rights Commission will be given adequate resources to do its job, will be accountable to Parliament as opposed to a Department and will be allowed to act independently. Unless it is doing that, my concern is that it would be made suffer for its criticism of Government. That would be unfair on all sides. The Government should not put itself in that position and the Irish Human Rights Commission should not be so exposed. We have seen other so-called difficult bodies such as the Equality Authority and others which have suddenly lost their place in society and some would relate that to their criticism of Government. We need to have an independent human rights commission accountable to Parliament. I ask the Leader to raise this with the Government.