Madam, - A government that was genuinely committed to respecting human rights at home and abroad would not be inflicting extensive, damaging budgetary cuts on its own Human Rights Commission and Equality Authority.
The cuts of 24 per cent and 43 per cent to the budgets of the IHRC and the EA, respectively, mean vital infrastructure dedicated to the protection and promotion of equality and human rights for people in Ireland will effectively be inoperable.
Equally worrying is the dismantling of independent bodies such as the Combat Poverty Agency and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, both with an established record of holding the Government to account in areas of social inclusion, equality and social justice.
We welcome the fact that the Government has finally distanced itself from the unlawful practices of extraordinary rendition and torture.
However, equality, inclusion and human rights begin at home. People working on these issues (including ourselves) are conscious of the inequalities faced by many in Ireland, as well as governmental shortcomings in giving effect to Ireland's human rights commitments.
These realities are clearly evidenced by the thousands of ordinary people who approach the Equality Authority with complaints of discrimination at work, on public transport, in financial institutions or in contact with Government bodies themselves. They are also shown by the Government's reluctance to incorporate many key international human rights standards into domestic law and to provide rights-based legislation.
It is arguably in times of financial crisis that the enforcement of equality and human rights standards is of greatest importance. These cuts must be reversed. - Yours, etc,