Government accused over rights commission choices

The Government was strongly criticised yesterday over its appointments to the new Human Rights Commission, set up under the Belfast…

The Government was strongly criticised yesterday over its appointments to the new Human Rights Commission, set up under the Belfast Agreement.

Angry delegates at a human rights conference in Dublin voiced their dismay at the decision to appoint only one of eight commissioners recommended by an independent selection committee set up by the Government.

The criticism came from members of the selection committee itself, the Conference of Religious in Ireland, the Irish Traveller Movement and the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

The selection committee was chaired by Dr T.K. Whitaker and included prominent activists in the human rights and voluntary sectors. It shortlisted 16 people out of 177 applicants, and recommended eight people with "unanimous priority".

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The Department of Justice asked only one of these eight to join the commission, while three people appointed were on the shortlist of 16.

The eight appointees include Prof William Binchy, a TCD law lecturer; Mr Mervyn Taylor, a former Labour Party government minister; Mr Robert Daly, a specialist in mental health from Cork; Ms Jane Liddy, a barrister formerly with the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg; Ms Suzanne Egan, a UCD law lecturer specialising in refugee law and Ms Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a lecturer in human rights law.

Ms Ni Aolain was on the list of eight front-runners. Yesterday she said she was "considering her position". Ms Egan, Mr Daly and Ms Liddy were on the list of 16.

Those among the list of eight who have not been appointed to the commission include Mr Martin Collins, an activist with the Traveller movement; Mr Michael Farrell, a solicitor and former co-chairman of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties; and Ms Nuala Kelly from the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas.

Father Sean Healy of CORI accused the Government of betraying the human rights community by the appointments process. Mr Donal Toolan of the Forum for People with Disabilities said the non-governmental sector was "absolutely devastated".

Mr Justice Barrington, who was on the conference panel, said he was surprised at the result of the appointments process but he had total confidence in those appointed, just as he would have in all the 16 people on the shortlist.

Many delegates stressed that they were not criticising the merits of those appointed.

Some members of the selection committee also gave their views. Ms Inez McCormack, president of the ICTU, said the committee adhered to strict selection criteria and principles in making its unanimous recommendations. She was angered and saddened by the outcome of a process which started as a transparent procedure and has ended up as a mess.

Mr Martin O'Brien of the North's Committee on the Administration for Justice said the Government needed to explain to people "what was wrong with the criteria that we applied, because the suggestion is that they made their decision on the basis of political affiliation of at least some of the additional people, and from our point of view that's not a relevant consideration."

The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said in the Dail this week that the Government had tried to ensure the balance of skills on the commission was the best that could be delivered in line with relevant statutory and international criteria.