The head of a human rights body set up under the Belfast Agreement said today the north now leads the south in implementing European human rights codes.
Mr Maurice Manning also said on the occasion of International Human Rights Day that Ireland's treatment of its 25,000 travellers remains a "black spot".
Mr Manning said that despite 30 years of sectarian violence in the north which left 3,600 dead, reforms had been made there which fundamentally changed institutions.
Yet the republic had still to pass legislation adopting the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights, which guarantees fundamental freedoms such as the right to life, the right not to be forced into slavery and the right to privacy.
"It's our job to drive legislation and we are concerned about the slowness in implementing some of the agreements which we have signed internationally," Mr Manning said.
A report released by the Irish Traveller Movement today said forced evictions of Travellers from places where they have parked their caravans continues unabated. It noted that under a national programme, halting sites for only 129 new caravans had been provided since 1995 out of a promised 2,200.
"It's a black spot... and I think that this document spells out very well why," Manning said. "For the most part, local authorities haven't given the matter the priority it needs.
"The record of politicians has been neither brave nor far-sighted. There's been very little pressure on local authorities to deliver and no sanctions against those who don't deliver."
Part of the problem, he said, stemmed from the failure of local authorities to understand the nomadic way of life of the travellers, who move from town to town throughout the year.
"They can't understand...why they can't settle down and (think) houses are the answer, whereas in fact halting sites are much more the answer.
"So there's failure to understand the nomadic culture and there's a failure of policy," he said.
An introduction to the Irish Traveller Movement's report on the failure of the government to provide the promised halting sites said it spelled out "clearly and unambiguously the continuing appalling neglect in the area of Traveller-specific accommodation".