Section 24 of the Act provides that the IHREC may recruit as many staff members as it may determine necessary and decide on the terms and conditions of service and the grade of the staff, subject to the approval of the Minister for Equality and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. 

The SCA notes that IHREC, as a public body, is subject to civil service rules of general application, which may in some cases limit its ability to recruit staff independently and to select from a wide pool of qualified applicants, as certain staff positions must be filled from within the Commission or the wider public service. 

NHRIs should be legislatively empowered to determine the staffing structure and the skills required to fulfil the NHRI’s mandate, to set other appropriate criteria and to select their staff in accordance with national law. 

The SCA therefore recommends that IHREC advocate for appropriate amendments to ensure it can independently set criteria and consistently recruit staff while taking note of civil service rules of general application. 

The SCA refers to Paris Principle B.2 and to its General Observation 2.4 on ‘Recruitment and retention of NHRI staff’.