I am pleased to announce today the appointment of Professor Monica McWilliams as the new Chief Commissioner of the NIHRC. I am also appointing seven new Commissioners—Jonathan Bell, Thomas Duncan, Professor Colin Harvey, Alan Henry, Ann Hope, Eamonn O'Neill and Geraldine Rice.

These new appointments will join the existing two Commissioners, Lady Christine Eames and Kevin McLoughlin, who were reappointed last autumn to serve until December 2007. The appointments follow an open recruitment process based on merit. The new Chief Commissioner and seven new Commissioners will take up their posts in the early autumn.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is a key part of the architecture of human rights protections in Northern Ireland, and an important feature of the Belfast Agreement. The Government have consistently been clear that it is in all our interests to have a strong, independent and self-confident Commission which draws support from all parts of the community.

I am confident that these new appointments will ensure that the Commission will make a significant contribution to the advancement and protection of human rights in Northern Ireland in the coming months and years. I look forward to working with the new Commission.