Way cleared for European Rights Convention to be incorporated into Irish law

The Government is ready to make a commitment to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights directly into Irish law, The Irish Times has learnt.

Incorporation of the convention means that courts will be able to apply directly the case law and precedents established by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights in considering domestic cases.

This will significantly shorten the average time taken to vindicate convention-based rights - currently it takes on average four years to get a ruling from Strasbourg - and it will also mean that successful challenges to the law would have an immediate, direct effect in altering Irish law.

Among the major Strasbourg cases which have resulted in changes in the law were Airey (1979), which established the right to civil legal aid; Johnston and Others (1986), which ended discrimination against children born out of wedlock; and Open Door Counselling and Dublin Well Woman (1992), which established the right to freedom of information on abortion. The decision to incorporate the convention into law is likely to be welcomed by human rights organisations, which have campaigned on the issue for years.

It is due to be announced to coincide with the assumption by the Republic of the chairmanship of the Council of Europe next week. It is also likely to be communicated informally tomorrow to the new secretary-general of the council, Mr Walter Schwimmer, who is visiting Dublin as part of the preparations for the Irish chairmanship of the council, of which 41 states are members.

The council drafted the 1950 convention and in 1959 established the European Court of Human Rights, which upholds it.

It took the Government almost six years to bring in legislation implementing the court's decision on gay rights in the Norris decision. Last night, Senator David Norris described the Government's move as a "highly important development in accessibility of human rights for Irish citizens".

The co-chairman of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Mr Michael Farrell, said it was a major step forward for Irish law.

Ireland will be the last EU state to incorporate the convention into its domestic law, following the British Labour government's fulfilment of its election pledge to do so. Until now, Government spokesmen have largely pleaded legal complications rather than principle in explaining their unwillingness to pursue incorporation, although the Government gave a pledge in the Belfast Agreement to review the position.

Legal sources say that the Government has two options: either to amend the Constitution to provide for incorporation or to pass an Act requiring all legislation to conform to it. In the latter case, problems might arise where the Constitution provides levels of protection which differ from those in the convention.

A senior legal source said that it was logical for the Republic to make the move following Britain's incorporation of the convention. It would be particularly useful, he said, in areas such as press freedom and the right to a speedy trial, where Strasbourg's protection of rights is more developed than Ireland's.

Ireland has been involved in pursuing notable cases at the Court of Human Rights, including one accusing Britain of cruel and unusual punishment of detainees in Northern Ireland.

One of the issues which Mr Schwimmer will be discussing in Dublin is the signing up of the European Union as a body to the convention. At present, EU member-states sign up on an individual basis. EU affiliation as an institution is viewed as an important step towards an EU charter of citizens' rights, which member-states hope will be finalised at a summit at the end of 2000.