The appointments process for the new Human Rights Commission has not been open and transparent, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.
Mrs Mary Robinson told The Irish Times she hoped there would eventually be "a very positive outcome" to the establishment of the body, which has been criticised over the way its members were appointed.
The Government faced intense criticism recently after it appointed eight members to the commission, largely ignoring the recommendations of a selection committee it established. The chairman of the commission, Mr Justice Donal Barrington, threatened to resign last week, but withdrew his resignation after receiving undertakings from the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue.
Mr Justice Barrington was appointed by the Government earlier this year to the body, which is being set up under the Belfast Agreement to monitor and promote human rights and has a counterpart in the North. He was not part of the selection committee.
In order to defuse the situation, Mr O'Donoghue is to propose increasing the membership of the commission from eight to at least 12. This is likely to require legislative changes, and it is not yet clear if the proposal will meet the concerns of the selection committee and other critics who have said the manner of the appointments lacked transparency.
Mr O'Donoghue met the selection committee last Friday to discuss the controversy.
Mrs Robinson said she would have detailed discussions with Mr O'Donoghue this week on the Human Rights Commission.
"I think it's good for people in Ireland to recognise just how closely this issue of the establishment of the Human Rights Commission is being looked at in different regions in the world, because the members of all the other human rights commissions are also watching . . . Hopefully, the outcome will be very positive but I think there have been real difficulties," she said in Dublin at the weekend.
Asked whether she had any concerns about the selection process, Mrs Robinson said she had been watching "a process that couldn't be described as open and transparent and pluralist in the way it has evolved. But the process is not yet completed and I will be following closely how it proceeds."
The controversy erupted when it emerged that only one person on the list of eight most favoured by the selection committee had been offered a place on the commission.
The selection committee forwarded to the Department of Justice a list of eight names which received its "unanimous priority" recommendation. It also provided a second list of eight names. Three of those appointed had been included in this second list.
It is understood the Government had reservations about the list drawn up by the selection committee and felt it did not meet the requirement of the legislation that the commission should be broadly representative of society.
The Government was not legally bound to appoint commission members from the names put forward by the committee.
The selection committee consisted of Ms Inez McCormack, the president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; Mr Martin O'Brien of the Belfast-based Committee on the Administration for Justice; Ms Mary Murphy from the Society of St Vincent de Paul; and Mr Frank Murphy of the Civil Servants Appointment Commission.