Government rejects Council’s criticisms

THE Government has defended its human rights record and rejected many of the criticisms in the Council of Europe’s review of human rights here issued in Strasbourg yesterday.

But the Government’s reaction has in turn been criticised by a number of leading Irish human rights groups as “short changing” the Council of Europe, of which Ireland is a member and which is independent of the EU.

The Government’s official response to the council’s commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, is that it will consider the report’s recommendations carefully.