Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the concern recently expressed by the president of the Irish Human Rights Commission, (details supplied) that the Gardaí were slow to introduce changes that would make the force fully compliant with its human rights obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22480/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Human Rights Commission Annual Report for 2006 greatly welcomed the developments happening with the Garda Síochána, such as the Garda Inspectorate and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission introduced as a result of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. It noted that the degree and quality of Garda Síochána communication on human rights matters has vastly improved. It acknowledged that the Garda Human Rights Action Plan has been widely published and in its view "this new level of transparency makes it much easier for bodies such as the IHRC to keep a watching brief".

Like the IHRC, the Commissioner and I both consider this to be the beginning of a process rather than an end result. The Commissioner has established a Strategic Human Rights Advisory Committee (SHRAC) chaired by an Assistant Commissioner to implement the findings of the Garda Síochána commissioned Human Rights Audit and the Human Rights Action Plan.

It is worth noting that the Irish Human Rights Commission are represented on the Committee and in its 2006 report the IHRC acknowledged that it was pleased to participate on this Committee.