Reproductive rights should be on the human rights agenda, according to a UCD lecturer, Ms Ursula Barry.
"Abortion should be taken entirely out of the criminal and constitutional legal codes and become a social and physical health issue," she told the conference. "No state has the moral or political authority to force compulsory pregnancy on women and girls."
Ms Barry was one of the eight priority candidates selected to serve on the human rights commission, but was not among the six eventually nominated by the Government. This followed considerable controversy over its ignoring of the recommendations.
It is understood that at a meeting last week with the six who were nominated, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, gave assurances that this was no reflection on the qualities of the two he did not nominate, Ms Barry and Mr Cearbhall O Meara. He undertook to find a way to utilise their talents.
Referring to economic inequality, Ms Barry said: "The strong constitutional protection for private property has been seen on many occasions to act in a way as to undermine equality provisions, individual and social rights in practice."
Ms Noeleen Blackwell, a solicitor specialising in refugee cases, raised the issue of the reported presence of Irish immigration officials at ports in France during a panel discussion.
"Are Irish immigration officials working at French ports, including airports?" she asked. "If so, what are they doing there? Are they attending in an advisory capacity? Are they advising transport staff?"
If the Minister for Justice was aware that ferry staff were refusing people entry on to boats, or perhaps refusing them permission to get off boats, he had a duty to establish if his obligations to hear a request for asylum were being sidelined, she said.
Asked about the Dublin Convention, she said: "The Dublin Convention is there. If the Minister wants people examined under it, he should use it. They should not be examined by untrained ferry staff."