Vol. 526 No. 1
102 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the Human Rights Commission will be operational; when the Commissioners will be appointed; the budget allocated for the Commission; his views on whether the budget is adequate, in view of the concerns expressed by the President of the Commission and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25752/00]
230 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the Human Rights Commission will be operational; when the Commissioners will be appointed; the budget allocated for it; if he regards the budget as adequate having regard to the concerns expressed by the President of the Commission and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25934/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 102 and 230 together.
The question of the appointment of the eight ordinary commissioners to the Human Rights Commission is currently before Government. As the Deputies will be aware, a selection committee under the chairmanship of Dr. T.K. Whitaker was appointed to draw up a list of possible candidates to be considered by the Government for appointment. The selection committee having examined the applications for these positions, its chairman submitted a list of 16 candidates for the Government to consider. The decision of the Government will be announced in the usual way in due course. It is my intention to make the necessary commencement order under section 3 of the Human Rights Commission Act, 2000, bringing the commission into existence as soon as possible after the appointment of the commissioners.
In so far as the operating budget of the commission is concerned, I have always maintained that this is a crucially important issue, and I intend to ensure that as far as possible its allocation will be in keeping with the high standards and ideals that the Government has set itself in this area.
