'Aylward selection for torture post sparks criticism' , Dec 9, 2011
Rachel Mullen, Equality and Rights Alliance co-ordinator, said: “Mr Aylward was in charge of some of the organisations that the committee will now be inspecting, which makes no sense.”
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'Human Rights Institution' Sept 19 2011
If the Minister is serious about the purpose of this merger being “to promote human rights and equality in a more effective, efficient and cohesive way”, then we would hope to see the introduction of legislation to consolidate the powers of this new entity so that the same legal instruments could be deployed across both the equality and human rights strands.
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'Minister announces details of merged human rights body' Sept 10, 2011
The move was greeted cautiously by non-governmental organisations. The Equality and Rights Alliance, a coalition of 170 organisations that campaign for equal rights, said there was no indication of the funding for the new body and combining of the existing budgets would not allow it to fulfil the mandates of the organisations adequately. However the Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomed the Minister’s stated commitment to the Paris Principles.
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'Equality Board Appointments' July 7 2011
The current board of the Equality Authority is scheduled to complete its term at the end of this month. In keeping with pre-election coalition commitments, not just to equality but to reformed public sector appointments, the new board should be appointed through a publicly advertised procedure administered by the Public Appointments Commission.
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'Equality Alliance Surprised at Aylward Appointment to Europe' Dec 8, 2011
Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA) said that it was surprised that Sean Aylward has been appointed as the Irish representative to the influential Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
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'Merged Equality and Rights Body Must be Stronger than Sum of its Parts' Sept 9, 2011
Equality & Rights Alliance today called on the Government to clarify that its decision to merge the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission is more than a simple cost-cutting exercise.
The government must show that a merger is not about finishing off the destruction of the equality and human rights infrastructure started by the previous administration, the coalition of 170 organisations and individuals said
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' Row-back on commitments in the Programme for Government' Sept 5 2011
Public sector positive duties encourage greater transparency and accountability in policy making and service planning and delivery. They enhance the capacity of public service providers to better meet the needs of all members of intended target populations, thereby using scarce resources to best effect. Surely in the current economic climate and given Government rhetoric regarding public sector reform, these are exactly the sort of measures our Government should be seriously considering
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'UN criticises Irish government on anti-racism efforts' February 21 2011
Coordinator of the Equality Rights Alliance Rachel Mullen stated that, the massive cuts in funding to the Equality Authority, the Human Rights Commission and the closure of the NCCRI in 2008, have seriously undermined the protection available to minority ethnic groups.
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'Making Equality & Rights an Election Issue' Jan 17 2011
“You get what you elect,” said Joanna McMinn, Chair of ERA. “We are rallying our sizeable membership to declare on the doorsteps that equality and rights matter. We are asking them to find out who will best protect and progress equality and human rights and then to elect them.”
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