Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 509: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the action he has taken to ensure that the provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 are compatible with the requirements of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as incorporated into the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, including any advice given to local authorities on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28208/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with standard practice, the norms of constitutional and administrative law, European Convention on Human Rights law and relevant EU law were taken into account in drafting the provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, and housing authorities are required to discharge their functions under the Act in a manner consistent with such norms.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 510: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the direction he has given to those bodies approved by him under section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, on whether they are deemed to be organs of the State for the purpose of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28211/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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There is no provision in the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 for Ministers to issue directions to particular bodies on whether they are deemed, for the purposes of the Act, to be organs of the State, an expression defined in section 1(1) to include "any ... body ... which is established by law or through which any of the legislative, executive or judicial powers of the State are exercised". This definition was formulated to demarcate the boundary between the public and private spheres on the basis that it is ultimately a matter for the courts to determine whether a particular body is an organ of State for the purposes of the Act and, thus, subject to the Convention.