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IN A TIME of economic downturn, protections for the most vulnerable members of society should not be eroded, the president of the Irish Human Rights Commission, Dr Maurice Manning, said at the launch of the commission’s report for 2007 in Dublin yesterday.

Noting that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was conducting a review of the State’s national human rights infrastructure in light of the current deterioration in public finances, Dr Manning said: “It is in times of economic difficulty that people in vulnerable situations often need the most protection. We obviously recognise the extent of the economic crisis.