Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not underestimating the role that the commission can play. I appreciate the Minister of State’s assurances and I do not question them at all. The Minister of State mentioned that the commission will carry out research and that will include certain organisations or minority groups. They would advise or they would be present at decision-making tables. My issue is that they should be the decision-making table. It should not be the case that when research is being carried out by the commission, such research is targeted at different groups. Instead, if the commission was diverse enough, they would make up the commission. The commission should not empower them or engage with them. They actually would be the commission. That is the part that we keep missing when we set up any body, function or arm of the State. We all endeavour to be inclusive. I believe most people want to be inclusive. Most people will naturally have blind spots in that, because of their position in life, where they have come from or how they have lived. A commission may be made up of exceptional members who truly believe in inclusivity and who want to carry out research to enhance the roles of all those groups. Yet, if that committee is made up of the same types of people, it will always fall short. It will accidentally fall short. I am not saying that it is trying to fall short. We should be endeavouring to make sure that the make-up of the commission is diverse. It should not be the case that merely the role that it implements or the efforts that it makes in society are diverse and inclusive. The commission itself should be that.