The Belfast Agreement requires the Irish and British Governments to incorporate the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights into legislation on both sides of the border. And while the undertakings given in relation to Northern Ireland are more explicit, the Government here has promised to "ensure at least an equivalent level of protection of human rights as will pertain in Northern Ireland".
Translating such undertakings into legislative action has fallen to the Department of Justice: the same body that - last September - gave us the most draconian anti-terrorist legislation in 30 years and has taken a distinctly unsympathetic view of illegal immigrants and refugees.
Shortly after the Belfast Agreement was ratified by referendums on both sides of the border, last May, a special division was established within the Department to deal with the situation and to draft the necessary legislation. A spokesman confirmed that the promised Human Rights Commission would be established on a statutory basis and would be completely independent of the Government in its functions. But it was too early to say what the legislation would contain and when it would go before the Dail. Matters were, he said, "at a very preliminary stage".
The Government is committed to bring forward measures to strengthen and underpin the constitutional protection of human rights. But it stops short of promising to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into law. Instead, it offers to be guided by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution; by a report by the Constitution Review Group and to "draw on" the ECHR.
In addition, the Government promised to establish a Human Rights Commission with a mandate and remit equivalent to that within the North; to ratify the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on National Minorities; to implement enhanced employment equality legislation; to introduce equal status legislation and to demonstrate its respect for the different traditions in the island of Ireland. A joint committee of representatives of the two Human Rights Commissions will, according to the Belfast Agreement, consider relevant issues, along with the possibility of establishing "a charter, open to signature by all democratic political parties, reflecting and endorsing agreed measures for the protection of fundamental rights of everyone living on the island of Ireland."
The Omagh bombing was such an horrendous crime that the security response to it by the two Governments was hardly questioned. And when Sinn Fein argued that the draconian legislation which became part of the Offences Against the State Act ran counter to the spirit of the Belfast Agreement, it was largely ignored.
Sinn Fein was right in its assertion, given the various commitments to arms decommissioning and the reduction of security measures contained in that document. But the political and security demands of the time required new powers to crush IRA splinter groups.
The concession offered to those Dail opposition parties concerned about the erosion of civil liberties and to Sinn Fein was that the new legislation would be reviewed in June, 2000. And if the special antiterrorist measures were not dispensed with at that time, they would be reviewed on an annual basis thereafter. Arms decommissioning is due to be completed by May, 2000. In parallel with that development, the last republican and loyalist prisoners - from organisations supportive of the Agreement - are due to be released. And, if the security situation warrants, the draconian legislation which Bertie Ahern brought with reluctance to the Dail - and the opposition parties accepted - will be repealed.
It's all been carefully choreographed. And while the recent anti-terrorist legislation may not offend directly against the Constitution, it would certainly not fit comfortably within a regime designed to adopt and expand the protections accorded to individuals under the European Convention on Human Rights.