The Minister for Justice has announced the appointment of the 14 members of the Human Rights Commission, reappointing nine members of the old commission and naming five new ones.
The new commissioners are Roger Sweetman, Alice Leahy, Helen O'Neill, Rosemary Byrne and Lia O'Hegarty.
The nine reappointed members are Prof William Binchy, Olive Braiden, Mervyn Taylor, Tom O'Higgins, Suzanne Egan, Michael Farrell, Prof Gerard Quinn, Prof Robert Daly and Dr Catherine Zappone.
The new commission will serve a five-year term. The term of office of the president of the commission, Dr Maurice Manning, expires next year.
The Government yesterday approved the appointments. This followed the production of a shortlist of candidates by the independent Human Rights Commission Appointment Panel, chaired by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness of the Supreme Court, who is chairwoman of the Law Reform Commission.
Thanking the outgoing commission, Mr McDowell said that during its time it had "made its mark domestically and become well regarded internationally, where it is a member of the European Co-ordinating Group of National Human Rights Institutions".
The commission was established under the Human Rights Commission Acts 2000 and 2001, in line with a commitment in the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
It is charged with promoting and protecting human rights and working with its Northern Ireland counterpart to improve the protection of human rights on the island of Ireland.
Three of the five new members are lawyers. Roger Sweetman is a senior counsel and was shortlisted by the Government for appointment as Irish judge in the European Court of Human Rights.
Alice Leahy is a director of Trust, which promotes the provision of social and health services to homeless people, and a former chairwoman of the Sentence Review Group.
Helen O'Neill is Professor Emeritus of Economics in the Centre for Development Studies in UCD, and a development consultant for Irish Aid.
Rosemary Byrne is a law lecturer in Trinity College with expertise in refugee-asylum matters.
Lia O'Hegarty will shortly be vacating her position as legal adviser to the Houses of the Oireachtas. She has also lectured in Trinity College and UCC.