'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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Call time on agenda to silence equality and rights bodies
Equality & Rights Alliance looks for straight answer on real agenda behind budget cuts as it starts WAKE UP campaign Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA) today urged the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform to WAKE UP AND CALL TIME on the budgetary cuts to The Equality Authority and the Irish Human Right Commission, saying that there was much more to the budget action than a financial agenda.
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No Merger but Savage Cuts Undermine Equality and Rights Protection Says Alliance
Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA) welcomes the budget announcement that the equality and rights bodies will share back office and administrative services instead of being fully merged as originally proposed. However, savage budget cuts of 43% for the Equality Authority and 24% for the Human Rights Commission totally undermines the protection of equality and rights for everyone, but particularly the most vulnerable in society, it stated.
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Alliance Concerned at Plans to Review Equality and Rights Functions
Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA) had a mixed reaction to the budget announcement about the streamlining of the equality and rights bodies. It welcomed the announcement that the bodies will share corporate and administrative services as the best way to make savings. It expressed concern, however, that the Government plans to look at further co-operation in specific functions and services such as inquiries or cases (tbc).
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Don’t Tie Our Equality and Rights Up in Red Tape
Older people, people with disabilities, women, Travellers and others concerned about their access to equality and human rights protection delivered an open letter wrapped in red tape to Dermot Ahern T.D., Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform today. The members of Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA) believe that the proposed merger of five equality and rights bodies into one agency will mean more bureaucracy, more red tape and less transparency for ordinary people who are discriminated against.
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Five into One Won’t Go
Five into one simply won’t go was the message given to government by Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA), a newly formed coalition of over 40 civil society groups at a press conference today. Instead of undermining equality and rights protections in the name of an ill-thought out cost cutting exercise, Joanna McMinn, Director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI), urged the Government to concentrate instead on strengthening the promotion and protection of social justice for the country’s most vulnerable.
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