THE IRISH Human Rights Commission (IHRC) will not be able to continue to operate without an injection of funding, its president, Dr Maurice Manning, has warned.
Dr Manning was launching the commission’s annual report for 2008 yesterday, saying it had carried out its work that year under very straitened circumstances.
“The welcome sanction of new posts in late 2007 was accompanied by no additional funding,” he said, pointing out that instead, the commission had experienced a cut of 32 per cent in its funding between 2008 and 2009.
This had “challenged the ability of the organisation to carry out its functions. Unless we receive additional funding in connection with our lease costs this year, then we face a very grave financial crisis.”
He said the organisation was in negotiations with the Department of Justice. “If they are successful then we will get through the year. If not, we won’t.”
Outlining the work of the commission for the year, he said queries from the general public had increased from 342 in 2007 to 467 in 2008, an increase of a third. Asked if it was able to respond to public requests for assistance, Dr Manning added: “We can deal with simple ones, where we can deal with them in the office. If they require inquiries or going to court, we can’t.”
He said the commission welcomed the opportunities it had during the year to appear before Oireachtas committees to present its views, where it had also highlighted the importance of consolidating the independence of the IHRC by making it directly accountable to the Oireachtas.
“The overarching and universal nature of human rights means that our mandate covers work carried out by many Government departments,” Dr Manning said.
He said the newly established Scottish human rights commission was directly accountable to the Scottish parliament.
Commission chief executive Éamonn Mac Aodha said 2008 had seen more observations on legislation than in any other year and an increase in its appearances before the High Court and the Supreme Court. It had appeared before these courts as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in five cases in Ireland and in one case before the European Court of Human Rights, making submissions on the human rights standards at issue in the proceedings.
The cases involved the issue of Traveller accommodation, levels of representation for accused and prosecution in criminal trials, the ability of local authorities to summarily evict tenants, the retention of telecommunications data for access by State authorities, the need to consider evidence other than that provided by an asylum-seeker in refugee appeals and the rights of people with intellectual disabilities.
It had also made a policy submission to the Government on the rights of transgendered persons and the lack of protection to such people under Irish law. It made a submission to the Health Information and Quality Authority, which was preparing standards for residential services for people with disabilities, highlighting the importance of the UN convention on their rights.
Mr Mac Aodha welcomed the fact that the Oireachtas had voted for an additional €250,000 grant in December, which had allowed it to avoid carrying a significant deficit into 2009.
However, 2009 was an even more difficult year for the commission, with total grant-in- aid dropping from €2,342,000 in 2008 to €1,596,000 in 2009.
“It goes without saying that any further cuts to our budget would put our continued survival in jeopardy,” he said.