Vol. 524 No. 3
6 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the appearance by the Attorney General before the UN Committee on Human Rights in Geneva; and the steps the Government will take to deal with the issues identified in the subsequent report from the committee regarding this country's com pliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [19838/00]
19 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has received a report from the Attorney General on his meeting with the United Nations Human Rights Committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19188/00]
81 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the cost of the Attorney General's trip to Geneva in July 2000 to meet the United Nations Human Rights Committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19189/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 19 and 81 together.
I have been made aware by the Attorney General of his presentation of the second national report submitted under Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to the UN Committee on Human Rights in Geneva on 13-14 July 2000. The conclusions of the committee, which were received on 26 July, have been circulated widely and are available in the Library and on the Department of Foreign Affairs website.
In his presentation of the report, which was submitted to the committee on 29 September 1998, the Attorney General gave an update on the very significant developments since then in the area of human rights legislation. He drew attention to the Human Rights Commission Act, 2000, the Equal Status Act, 1998, the Employment Equality Act, 1998 and the National Disability Authority Act, 1999. The Attorney General also drew attention to pending legislation in the following areas: disabilities, where a Bill covering access to public bodies, services and participation in the administration of justice will be enacted; rights of children, including an ombudsman for children; incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into Irish law; mental health; the establishment of an independent prisons authority; and the reform of the law relating to defamation.
The Attorney General also gave the committee a brief description of the commitments entered into under the Good Friday Agreement, with particular emphasis on its human rights provisions. He drew attention to the Government's undertaking to "bring forward measures to strengthen and underpin the constitutional protection of human rights", and that "these proposals will draw on the European Convention on Human Rights and other international legal instruments". Progress on implementation of these measures was also reported to the committee.
The committee, in its concluding observations communicated to us on 26 July, recorded its appreciation of the high quality of the report of Ireland, which it deemed to be comprehensive and responsive to the concluding observations made by the committee after the examination of the initial report. The committee also appreciated the additional oral and written information provided by the State party delegation during the examination of the report; this information was seen as highly instructive and enhancing the dialogue between the committee and the delegation. Furthermore the committee welcomed the publication and wide dissemination of the report by the Government and its willingness to involve non-governmental organisations in the process.
The Attorney General at the conclusion of the examination informed the committee that progress was being made in many areas of concern to it, such as the Garda Complaints Board, the Special Criminal Court, the Offences Against the State Act and prison conditions, and that particular issues which had been raised had been dealt with. The Standing Interdepartmental Committee on Human Rights, whose establishment the committee had welcomed in its concluding observations, will meet in the very near future to consider all of the concerns and recommendations of the committee.
The Attorney General, accompanied by officials from the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Foreign Affairs, made this long statement but every member of the committee asked him some direct questions. Among those questions was, for example, this direct one: would the guarantees involved in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights be implemented by the Human Rights Commission? Would the Minister agree that when he was confronted by the fact that we did not have an independent Garda complaints body, his comment was that those parts of the convention we were not implementing presented us with "challenging standards"? In the end, as I understand it, as reported, the chairperson gave him what was described in one newspaper as a dressing down for not meeting the standards of the convention.
The Deputy must ask questions.
The Minister gave me a long summary of what the Attorney General stated. Does he agree the chairperson of the monitory committee told the Attorney General, Michael McDowell, that the committee was disappointed in relation to Garda complaints, that he was asked a direct question, which I ask now—
There is a one minute limit on supplementary questions.
I do not have information available to me stating that is what the chairperson said to the Attorney General. I am sure the record of the meeting can be circulated to the House for the purposes of accuracy. I made the point in my reply that there was an acknowledgement by the committee of the high quality of the report of Ireland which it deemed to be comprehensive and responsive while it continues to express some concerns. Those concerns were acknowledged and the interdepartmental committee on human rights will meet to consider all those concerns and the recommendations of the committee. We should be prepared to acknowledge that substantive progress could be reported. Clearly, there are other issues which require continuing—
There are.
I understand this applies to most countries that come before that committee.
We might, for example, have an independent Garda complaints authority.
On what did the Attorney General report or what is the position in relation to the European Convention on Human Rights? What decisions have been made and what will be done to underpin fundamental rights here? Are constitutional changes envisaged and, if so, when will they take place? Will the Minister give us an update on that?
I do not have that information available to me. As the Deputy knows, the Attorney General's replies are with the Taoiseach's Department. If the Deputy tables a question to the Taoiseach's Department, I am sure a very detailed and considered reply will be given.
On the European Convention on Human Rights, he was not able to give a detailed and positive report on that issue, that this Government seems to be rather helpless in terms of coping with that issue and that there is no progress on it.
If this is a matter of concern to the Deputy, I am sure he could put down a specific question. On the basis of the question he is now asking, I will get the detailed reply for him.
I think there was another suggestion – I am being helpful here – that the Department of Foreign Affairs has won over the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the European Convention on Human Rights may become part of domestic law. Does the Minister agree that the question put at the session was why the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights was not being transposed into domestic law in the same way as the European Convention? Does he agree that at the tail of it, the Attorney General was accused of being "eurocentric"?
All I can say to the Deputy is that his recounting of these interactions, which he says took place between the Attorney General and the committee, are not something on which I can comment because I do not have that information available to me. What I will say is that full and detailed replies will be given to the questions he raises. I am sure the answers he will be given will be deemed just as adequate as those which the committee thought they were when it heard them.
I thought the Minister would have been up to speed.
