Senator Bacik speaking on Mortgage Arrears, the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and Calling for Debate on Proposed Merger of Equality Authority and IHRC

Order of Business

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Senator Ivana Bacik: In my capacity last week as Acting Leader and further to my promise to the House then, I did write to the Taoiseach about the concerns expressed by Members on both sides about the delays in making progress on the problem of mortgage arrears. He and the Tánaiste spoke publicly about their concerns at the lack of progress and delays in this area at the end of last week. I hope our letter had some impact.

On Thursday of last week, I wrote to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in strong terms expressing my concern that no Minister could be found to deal with two hours of Private Members' business in the Seanad. I also expressed concern that the business of the Seanad was not treated with respect. I am awaiting a response to the letter. I assure colleagues it was taken seriously on this side of the House as well. It was a most regrettable occurrence that a Minister was not available and Private Members' business had to be deferred. The Leader and I will take all the steps to ensure it does not happen again.

Today is the United Nations day for the elimination of racial discrimination. I commend the work of all the different groups that have come together from civic society to form the NGO Alliance Against Racism. I had the privilege of speaking at its conference on racism yesterday and hearing some its members speak to the justice committee earlier. It has prepared an excellent report on monitoring Ireland's international commitments against racial discrimination and has raised several issues with us as legislators which would be worth debating in this House. I call, therefore, for a debate on the report and how best to ensure our civil and criminal laws are compliant with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In particular, we need to review our laws on sentencing to ensure racism can be officially seen as an aggravating factor in sentencing which it is currently not.

We also need to debate, perhaps in advance of the legislation, the proposed merger of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission. This is being approached with some apprehension by many of the NGOs working in the area. There is a real concern that the merged body would retain the powers and functions that both bodies had previously, as well as ensuring sufficient staffing and resources are provided to the new merged body. It is also important we ensure it is independent in its functioning and accountable to the Oireachtas rather than to the Minister or the Executive. A general debate would be helpful on the infrastructure to provide for greater equality and how best we tackle racial discrimination which is a real occurrence on the streets across Ireland.