A bill to extend membership of the Human Rights Commission from nine to 15 was warmly welcomed yesterday by the House.

It was originally intended the Human Rights Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2001, should be included in the European Convention on Human Rights Bill, 2001, the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, told the House.

That Bill was designed to give further effect in Irish law to the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights. It flowed directly from the Good Friday agreement. The establishment of the Human Rights Commission also had its origins in the Belfast Agreement.

"The establishment of the Human Rights Commission through this legislation will shine a light into the hidden Ireland and expose an amount of wrongdoing which many people may not have expected to find," the Minister said.

The Government had decided to increase the number of human rights commissioners to "broadly reflect the nature of our society" in line with the Act's requirements.

It would mean the Commission now had 15 members including its president, Mr Justice Barrington. The members had been nominated by the Government, and the Commission had been meeting for some months as an interim body. Enactment of the Bill would mean the Commission could develop fully its role under the Act.

The Fine Gael spokeswoman on equality, Ms Frances Fitzger- ald, said the Commission had had a difficult "birth and arrival". The Commission, however, would not be able to review international public law that was not on the Irish statute book, Ms Fitzgerald said. Hence, the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, "the effective international convention on women's rights", would not fall within its remit.

Her party colleague, Ms Monica Barnes (FG, Dun Laoghaire) welcomed the setting up of the Commission before the summer recess "to allow it to co-operate fully with its Northern Ireland counterpart".

The Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, welcomed the Minister's "openness" in allowing this issue to be split away from the European Convention Bill. He was looking forward to the detailed debate on that Bill at committee stage and to "the shadow disappearing from the Human Rights Commission as it becomes a statutory agency".