Shatter criticises `flawed' human rights legislation

Northern Ireland citizens will have greater human rights protection under their domestic law than citizens of the Republic under legislation introduced in the House, it was claimed.

Condemning the Bill to incorporate the European Human Rights Convention into Irish law as "fundamentally flawed and defective", Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said the Government's approach was designed to ensure "we do not go any further than the minimum distance required to allow the Minister to portray the Government as having lived up to its Good Friday obligations".

Proposals in the European Convention on Human Rights Bill date back to the provisions in the Belfast Agreement relating to Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity.

But, Mr Shatter said, the Government was "slavishly following" the approach taken by the British in their legislation. However in some respects, the Westminster Bill was actually broader than the Irish legislation.

The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who introduced the legislation, said it went further than its British equivalent, in a number of respects. He did not accept either that citizens of Northern Ireland enjoyed greater protection than citizens in the Republic.

He said the "Good Friday agreement does not provide that this jurisdiction must incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into law. This option is and was always there for Irish governments to do so since ratification. However, no government chose to do so until this Government decided to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into law."

Labour's Justice spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the Minister "has made a bags" of the legislation. Many believed Ireland did not need a human rights commission but Amnesty International had "some profound things" to say about the state of human rights in Ireland, particularly its concern about the lack of an independent police complaints procedure.

His party colleague, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, spokeswoman on equality, said she was deeply concerned that "this is such a very small step when it could have been a much larger, broader and more meaningful one in terms of advancing human rights here".

Ms Monica Barnes (FG, Dun Laoghaire) said: "It is to our shame and embarrassment that the Northern Ireland commission is up and running and we are still dragging this Bill in this way through the House".