The Minister for Justice has said he is confident he will secure increased Government funding for the Human Rights Commission amid concerns its proposed budget is so low it would prevent the body from implementing its strong mandate.
Mr O'Donoghue told The Irish Times he would ask the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to increase substantially the £600,000 annual budget allocated to the commission, an independent body charged with keeping laws under review to ensure the protection of human rights.
"I'm confident that I will get more money from Finance because the Taoiseach and the Government are committed to it and there's no point in having a commission that's not properly financed," he said.
There had been concern among officials that the work of the commission, set up under the Belfast Agreement, would be damaged if not properly funded.
It is understood the Department of Justice is pressing for the £600,000 budget to be raised to £1.5 million, but the Irish Council for Civil Liberties insists at least twice that is needed.
The commission's counterpart in the North, set up in March 1999, receives £750,000 sterling annually and has had problems implementing its programme with such a budget.
There have also been concerns about the delays in setting up the commission. Only its president, the former Supreme Court Judge, Mr Donal Barrington, has been appointed.
There is no indication of any imminent appointment of its eight commissioners.
Mr O'Donoghue would not state the exact sum he would be seeking for the commission, but said it would be considerably more than £500,000.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, raised concerns about the funding of the commission with Mr O'Donoghue in a meeting here yesterday on the fringes of the European conference against racism.
Commenting on Mrs Robinson's remarks to the conference this week that Ireland and other European countries should show more sustained leadership on the issue of anti-racism, Mr O'Donoghue said the area was a "greenfield site" when he became Minister.
He had since built up structures, created new agencies and passed new laws, he said.