Begrudgers, move along - Village Magazine

April 2015 33

OLITICAL reform is yet another Irish oxymoron.

Certainly not something to be serious about: it is

a ﬁeld for making promises rather than taking

action.

Political reform that advances equality and human

rights is more elusive still.

The establishment of a new Oireachtas Sub-

Committee on “Human Rights Relevant to Justice and

Equality Matters”, therefore, merits some attention.

Inevitably it got almost none.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of

Europe resolved in 2011 that parliaments are “key to

the eﬀective implementation of international human

rights through legislating (including the vetting of

draft legislation), involvement in the ratiﬁcation of

international human rights treaties, holding the

executive to account, liaising with national human

rights institutions and fostering the creation of a

pervasive human rights culture”.

The Dáil and Seanad do not fulﬁl these roles.

The Resolution recommended that national

parliaments establish “appropriate parliamentary

structures to ensure rigorous and regular monitoring

of compliance with, and supervision of, international

human-rights obligations, such as dedicated human

rights committees”.

Four years later, and – begrudgers be silent – we

have such a committee.

As with all such change in Ireland, it is about having

the right people in the right place at the right time:

David Staunton TD, Chair of the Oireachtas

Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and Chair

of the new sub-committee, and Senator Katherine

Zappone, Rapporteur of the new sub-committee. The

sub-committee has three other members, all ready

volunteers: Anne Ferris TD, Labour; Senator Ivana

Bacik, Labour; and Finian McGrath TD, Independent.

Staunton said the sub-committee was “established

with a view to examining how issues, themes and

proposals take account of human rights provisions.

The focused membership of the sub-committee

intends to work to ensure that any new legislation is

human rights ‘proofed’”. Zappone added: “members

agreed ambitious but achievable areas to examine,

which will ensure that this sub-committee provides

robust parliamentary oversight in how Ireland

complies with its international human-rights

obligations”.

The sub-committee has identiﬁed four important

areas for immediate attention. It will review the 2009

Charities Act’s failure to include human-rights work

as a purpose of beneﬁt to the community. Such a

provision would have allowed organisations working

for the advancement of human rights to have

beneﬁted from charitable status.

The sub-committee will investigate the

introduction of a regularisation scheme for

undocumented migrants for which the Migrant Rights

Centre of Ireland has been campaigning. It estimates

that there are between 20,000 and 26,000

undocumented migrants living and working in

Ireland, most of whom have been here for many years.

The sub-committee will examine the ratiﬁcation by

Ireland of international human-

rights instruments. This could

usefully start with the UN

Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities. Ireland,

Finland and the Netherlands are

the only EU Member States that

have still to ratify this Convention.

The Optional Protocol to the UN

Convention Against Torture will be

another focus in this work. The sub-committee could

usefully extend its focus in this area to the

incorporation of international human-rights

conventions into domestic law.

The sub-committee will support public bodies to

prepare for their obligations under the positive duty

to have regard to eliminating discrimination,

promoting equality of opportunity and protecting

human rights. This obligation has been introduced by

the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act

2014. It oﬀers the potential to inculcate a new culture

of equality and human rights in Government

Departments and public bodies. However, it runs the

risk of being limited to a tick-box exercise unless there

is some drive and support behind it. The sub-

committee is now usefully oﬀering a rare impetus.

Sub-committee reports will be published, sent to

the Minister for Justice and Equality, and laid before

both houses of the Oireachtas for debate.

The only ﬂy in this otherwise cleverly formulated

ointment is that the ﬁeld of work for the sub-

committee is conﬁned to issues emanating out of the

Justice and Equality brief of its parent committee.

However, Zappone noted “I am hopeful the

Committee can demonstrate the ways in which

parliamentarians can monitor the implementation of

our human rights obligations within the remit of

justice and equality issues so that other Oireachtas

Committees can do the same or that a stand alone

Human Rights and Equality Oireachtas Committee

might eventually be established”. •

We have a new

Oireachtas

human-rights

sub-committee

Begrudgers, move along

NIALL CROWLEY