A GALWAY law lecturer is set to become the Irish representative on the influential Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture. It is now unlikely the position will go to the just-retired general secretary of the Department of Justice, Sean Aylward, who was one of three Government nominees.
The Irish Timeshas learned that Donncha O'Connell, former dean of the law faculty in NUI Galway and former director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, has been chosen as the lead contender for the position by the human rights subcommittee of the Council of Europe's committee on legal affairs and human rights, with Mr Aylward in second place.
The vacancy arises from the fact that the term on the committee of Tim Dalton, former secretary of the Department of Justice, ends this December.
In an unprecedented move last August, the Minister for Justice sought applications for the Irish seat on the committee, and, following a selection process, three names were forwarded, those of Mr O’Connell, Mr Aylward and Dr Mary Rogan of the Dublin Institute of Technology. Unusually, the names were not forwarded to the Council of Europe in any particular order.
The matter went to the human rights subcommittee of the Council of Europe’s committee on legal affairs and human rights, and this committee will forward its recommendation to a human rights group of parliamentarians and ultimately to the committee of ministers’ deputies, which will make the final decision. However, it is unlikely it will reject the recommendation.
The anti-torture committee visits places of detention in the member states of the Council of Europe, including not only prisons but also police stations and psychiatric hospitals.
The committee members report on their findings, initially to the member state’s government, and reports are usually later made public.