Let me make a point, without being contentious. The Irish Human Rights Commission, the distinguished president of which is Dr. Maurice Manning, was created on foot of the Good Friday Agreement, as was the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. It was envisaged that the two commissions would work in a broad equivalence of concern. They were not required to be exactly the same. Our concerns in what we do are not confined to our own jurisdiction.
We can look at this matter more effectively when Senator Norris is present. Meanwhile, I share his grave concerns about what is happening to the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Equality Authority, the Combat Poverty Agency and the committee on interracial relations. All of these actions contribute to a negative message. One might argue that the White Paper on Foreign Policy correctly retains human rights at its centre. However, I often refer to the equivalent Norwegian White Paper. When Norway decided to publish a White Paper on human rights, it acknowledged that it had spent a couple of decades without discussing the meaning of human rights within that country and had a parallel process of discussing human rights at home and internationally.
All the news is not bad. Some of our diplomats and scholars have co-operated magnificently on the United Nations convention on disability, for example. International disability rights imply similar rights at home. Signature is one thing but ratification means one has adjusted one's domestic legislation. One can never place a boundary between national and international human rights. I am happy to wait until Senator Norris who has tabled a specific motion calling for the restoration of full resources to the bodies dealing with human rights is present. Public comment has concentrated on the most obvious withdrawal of funding, that from the Equality Authority, and the resignation of its chairman, Mr. Niall Crowley. There is no point in imagining that this Government action is not incredibly important. We have been enormously damaged. One cannot depart so significantly, institutionally and administratively, and expect to retain one's credibility internationally.