The Government has decided to defer the European Convention on Human Rights Bill until the autumn to allow for further consultation. However, it is introducing a short Bill next Thursday to place the Human Rights Commission on a statutory footing.
This is expected to pass all stages on Thursday, as it will have the support of the Opposition. It will then go to the Seanad.
The delay on the European Commission on Human Rights Bill means the Government will miss the June deadline for the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement. The agreement included a number of commitments on human-rights mechanisms being set up on both sides of the Border.
Earlier this week a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights passed a motion asking for more time to hear submissions from interested parties, and more discussion, and for a separate Bill to be introduced placing the Human Rights Commission on a statutory basis.
The short Human Rights Commission (Amendment) Bill is necessary because the membership of the Human Rights Commission was expanded after the initial enabling Act was passed. This followed a controversy over the rejection by the Government of seven of the eight names put forward as members of the commission by the selection committee.
The list was then expanded to 14, taking in most of the named originally selected. However, it exists only as a "shadow" commission because as presently constituted it has no statutory basis. The necessary supplementary measures were added to the European Convention on Human Rights Bill.
The Bill has been criticised as "minimalist" by, among others, Mr Justice Donal Barrington, president-designate of the Human Rights Commission, who spoke at the meeting of the Oireachtas Committee last Tuesday.
Other submissions will be heard in July and September, and the consultation process is expected to be completed by the end of September. It is expected the Bill will have passed all stages by next Christmas. There will then be a six-month period before it is fully implemented.