Sinn Féin and the SDLP have criticised the Human Rights Commission. Both parties met the chief commissioner, Prof Brice Dickson, yesterday.Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor, reports.
Mr Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, said the commission "is broken and it needs fixing", while Mr Mark Durkan, the SDLP leader, said "confidence issues" surrounding the chief commissioner remained.
Mr Durkan claimed that answers to questions put by his party were not "free of contradictions or inconsistencies". He said the answers they got did not "add up to the sort of credibility that needs to be there".
Mr Durkan added regarding Prof Dickson: "The question of the tenability of his position still exists, it hasn't been resolved by anything that has come into the public domain . . . and it certainly wasn't resolved by anything that was shared with us.
"We are trying to make sure that in everything that is done, we protect the integrity of the remit that the commission was given under the \ Agreement."
Mr Durkan added that a series of controversies had caused damage, including "an improper" communication between Prof Dickson and the Chief Constable about the Holy Cross school dispute.
Following his party's meeting at the commission's headquarters in Belfast yesterday, Mr McGuinness was critical of the body's approach to fair employment and also of Prof Brice Dickson's leadership during the Holy Cross dispute.
Mr McGuinness said: "Fair employment is a cornerstone of building a new society. If you cannot even measure what's wrong in respect of fair employment how can you possibly hope to tackle it?"
Turning to the Holy Cross dispute in which Catholic children were attacked on their way to school last year, Mr McGuinness accused the Prof Dickson of acting in a manner which would undermine confidence in the ability to protect rights regardless of religion or background. "The chief commissioner's response to the Holy Cross case has undermined gravely public confidence that rights will be promoted regardless of political background."
Mr McGuinness said he viewed Prof Dickson's leadership with misgivings.
"The resignation of one quarter of the commission's membership is a further cause of deep concern. A Westminster joint committee on human rights recently identified serious problems with the commission. And actions which threaten fair employment monitoring, 50:50 recruitment as recommended by Patten or voting safeguards in the Assembly will further undermine public confidence," he warned.
He accused the chief commissioner of failure "to provide satisfactory answers" to questions about the leadership of the body under his stewardship.
The commission is engaged in a wide consultation programme on the issue of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. The consultation period has been extended at the commission's request.