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In publishing its strategic plan for the next three years yesterday, the Human Rights Commission has given a public signal that it is open for business. This comes almost five years after it was first mooted in the Belfast Agreement, and yesterday's announcement has been long awaited.

The delay is due to a number of factors. There was a certain perception in Government circles that the setting up of such a body was less urgent here than in Northern Ireland, given the extensive rights guaranteed in the 1937 Constitution. The lack of a written constitution in the UK, along with the specific history of Northern Ireland, made it more urgent to have such a commission there, it was argued.