'More rights' needed in Constitution

THE SOCIAL, economic and cultural rights of Irish people should be recognised in the Constitution, Cori Justice director Fr Seán Healy has said.

Following the constitutional recognition of such rights, "there would be a requirement to have legislation ensuring these rights could be vindicated", he said.

There should also be a "legal requirement on each incoming government to set out concrete targets on each of the range of social, economic and cultural rights recognised in the Constitution". Such targets should be set out in legislation and should be for a specific period, he said.

Fr Healy said Cori Justice believed a mechanism along these lines should be put in place in all EU member states. "It would mean that social, economic and cultural rights were placed on the same level as civil and political rights," he said.

It would also mean that the EU's over-concentration on the economic dimension would be rebalanced, in part at least, by a growing recognition of social issues.

Cori Justice believed "strongly" in the importance of developing a rights-based approach to social, economic and cultural issues. The need to develop such rights was becoming increasingly urgent for both Ireland and the rest of the EU, Fr Healy said.

"Social, economic and cultural rights should be acknowledged and recognised as civil and political rights have been."

According to Fr Healy, Cori Justice, among others, believed that seven basic rights were of fundamental concern to people who are socially excluded and/or living in poverty. These were the right to have sufficient income to live life with dignity; to meaningful work; to appropriate accommodation; to relevant education; to essential healthcare; to cultural respect; and to real participation in society.

These rights "should be acknowledged and recognised" and, until they were, "Ireland and the EU will continue to have a major credibility problem", Fr Healy said. Ireland and the rest of the EU would be seen to be "failing to match their commitment to civil and political rights with an equal commitment to social, economic and cultural rights".

Cori Justice is a social partner and participated in negotiating the last four national agreements.

It is an agency of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) and represents more than 135 religious congregations, with 11,000 members in 1,300 communities.