Human Rights Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19 ============================================================ Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel The European Convention on Human Rights has played a crucial role in bringing peace to this island. It is the cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement and it is about an external mutual framework which has provided much-needed trust for communities emerging from conflict. The Irish Government has historically emphasised that any weakening of the ECHR poses a risk to the Good Friday Agreement. Irish governments have rightly been critical of the long-running campaign in Britain regarding the dilution of and withdrawing from the framework. Both the Tory and Reform parties have committed to pulling out of the ECHR and even the Labour government is debating withdrawing from certain elements of it. Last September the Tánaiste said the ECHR's guarantees cannot be negotiated despite what some politicians might claim. Sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious. Protecting fundamental rights protects everyone. This is a sentiment I firmly agree with. However, in December last year Ireland signed the joint statement to the conference of ministers of justice at the Council of Europe which has served to blur Ireland position on the ECHR and indicates a deeply worrying shift in Irish policy. The Minister for foreign affairs has often spoken on the importance of international law and human rights, and Ireland's key role in upholding them and setting a strong example for the rest of the world. In January she said, "Accountability is important and it is absolutely imperative that the international courts are permitted to function". The Minister for justice has spoken of the need for an international human rights system. I also welcome those sentiments. Let us not forget that Ireland has used the ECHR instruments. Both of the interstate cases Ireland has taken against the UK over the torture of the hooded men in the North in the early 1970s and the current case against the Tories' cruel legacy Act were done on the grounds of the Article 3 protections. In 2014, Ireland sought to revise the hooded men case to ensure that the threshold for torture was not undermined. Any attempts to change Article 3 provisions will damage global standards against torture and inhumane and degrading treatment for everyone. The Good Friday Agreement relies on the ECHR and underpins peace on this island. This is why the joint statement by Ireland is so concerning for many, including IHREC and the ICCL. Even more confusing is that Ireland was once seen as a strong opponent of the Danish initiative last year but that changed in December. The joint statement seems utterly inconsistent with the previous position of the Government. If the Minister for foreign affairs were here today, I would be asking her: what is the Government's position in the lead-up to the Moldova summit in May? What is her Department doing in the run-up to these negotiations? What position is Ireland taking on the CDDH? What will Ireland's approach be for the political declaration? The Secretary General has set out a very clear approach; will Ireland be aligning with that? Nothing in the political declaration should weaken the ECHR but some of the language being thrown around would pose significant risk to the integrity of the court and the convention. Will Ireland advocate for the protection of Article 3 and Article 8 and ensure that no measures are taken to weaken those articles? Have the Minister or her officials met IHREC, as the leading national human rights institution, to address its concerns regarding the joint statement and its recommendations on the political declaration? Has the Department responded in any way to the public submissions that IHREC has made? Critically, was an assessment made before the joint statement was signed as to the extent to which the joint statement would risk undermining Article 3 protections that have been so central to the Good Friday Agreement and the interstate cases that Ireland has taken against the UK, including the current case? Ireland's credibility as a defender of international law is at stake. I hope we can get some much-needed clarity to allay the profound concern that many people in the human rights space have. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-19