THE FIVE equality and human rights agencies facing amalgamation into a single body if Government cost-cutting plans go ahead have submitted their responses to the proposal.
Representatives from the Equality Tribunal, the Equality Authority, the National Disability Authority, the Data Protection Commission and the Irish Human Rights Commission were informed in late July of the plan to merge all five bodies into one agency.
They were given until yesterday to respond to the proposal. In their submissions, a number of agencies expressed strong concern over the impact the move would have on their work.
In a statement, the office of Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes said Mr Hawkes had raised a number of issues in his submission, arguing that the plan would result in “no obvious savings” for the Government.
“The commissioner accepts that policy decisions with regard to the establishment and merging of State agencies is a matter for government.
“However, he felt obliged to point out that the merger proposal did not seem to take account of the fact that his office had recently decentralised to Portarlington and that it already made full use of common IT and other services provided by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform,” the statement said.
“In the circumstances, there are no obvious savings to be made from such a merger and increased costs seem to be the more likely outcome.
“Furthermore, there are no obvious synergies to be gained for his office from the merger, given the very disparate mandates of the agencies involved.”
Mr Hawkes also noted that EU law requires that each member state have an independent data protection authority. “There is no precedent, either in the EU or internationally, for assigning data protection responsibility to a human rights agency,” the statement added.
Maurice Manning, president of the Irish Human Rights Commission, has said on a number of occasions that while he is keeping an open mind with regard to the merger, he is not convinced substantial savings would result from it. The commission has also warned that the Government should ensure that any amalgamation does not weaken the promotion and protection of human rights in the State.
Earlier this week, the National Disability Authority (NDA) stressed the importance of retaining a separate agency to deal with issues related to disability.
“It is vital . . . that a dedicated, independent agency is working to drive through the National Disability Strategy, which is so critical in improving the lives of adults and children with disabilities.
“Much remains to be done to ensure its successful implementation,” NDA chairwoman Angela Kerins said.