UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Tuesday, 6 September 2016 at 5.30 pm
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY SUZANNE EGAN, UCD SCHOOL OF LAW on 6 September 2016, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on EMILY LOGAN
President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Emily Logan is one of Ireland’s foremost champions of human rights whose work in the field has made a concrete difference to the lives of many people in the State, especially those of children.
Having trained as a paediatric nurse in Temple Street Hospital, she spent ten years in the UK working at Guys and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she held both clinical and senior management positions. She returned to Ireland to take up the position of Director of Nursing and General Manager at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and went on to become Director of Nursing at Tallaght Hospital.
When the newly established position of Ombudsman for Children was advertised in 2004, Emily Logan was interviewed by three adults and also by 15 young people (between 11 and 17 years old) and after a debate in both houses of the Oireachtas, she was appointed Ombudsman for Children by former President Mary McAleese. During her term as Ombudsman, she dealt with more than 10,000 complaints from members of the public and launched a number of investigations of her own volition. These included the only systemic investigation into state compliance with the Children First: National Guidelines into the Protection and Welfare of Children, in which she ultimately exposed through the invesitgation, the weakness of a reliance on ‘guidelines’ alone in protecting children from abuse. She also carried out inquiries into situations where children were without parental care, in particular children in state care, separated children and children in prison.
Examples of instances of discrimination uncovered through her investigations include:
- discrimination by a school of a teenager because of pregnancy;
- discriminatory practices in relation to admissions to school for children from non-national communities;
- discriminatory practices in relation to access to health services for children with disabilities;
- and discriminatory practices by the Department of Education in relation to a child’s right to access education.
There are also numerous further examples of investigations which she conducted as Ombudsman for Children which have contributed to legislative and institutional reform at a wider level in Ireland. These include:
- An investigation into the death of children in care in 2009 which resulted in the establishment of a specific mechanism of investigation of child deaths.
- An inquiry in the same year into the treatment of 240 separated children seeking asylum in the State, all of whom were largely victims of human trafficking, which resulted in changes being made to the accommodation of such children in line with international human rights practice.
- An inquiry into the treatment of 35 young people detained in St. Patrick’s Institution – a medium secure prison, the findings of which were used by the UN Committee Against Torture in 2011 to question government about its compliance with the UN Convention against Torture, and which ultimately resulted in a programme for government commitment to close St. Patrick’s and move all children and young people from a custodial to a care environment.
On 31st October 2014, President Michael D Higgins appointed Ms. Logan Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. In the space of two short years in the post, she has led the Commission in providing advice to government on a number of pieces of draft legislation as well as in achieving a number of key actions and accomplishments on the national and international stage. These include, but are not limited to:
- The Commission being recognised as an “A status” national human rights institution by the International Co-ordinating Committee on National Human Rights Institutions.
- The launch of the Commission’s first Strategy Statement covering the period 2016 – 2018 – which was informed by 5 month long, nationwide public consultation involving a diversity of groups and organisations concerned with human rights and equality. The approach to the consultation was based on the human rights and equality principles of direct engagement and participation which have been the hallmarks of Emily Logan’s work in the field.
- In August of 2016, The Commission again embarked on a nationwide consultation – this time with diverse groups of women, including women in prisons and direct provision, as part of its assessment of Ireland’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.
In the course of her stellar career to date, Emily Logan has acquired three Masters degrees: an MSc in Psychology, an MBA and an LLM in Human Rights Law. She has been a great supporter of the academic work done here at UCD in the field of human rights having helped to launch the University’s new Centre for Human Rights in December 2015. The University is thus extremely proud and honoured to confer on Emily Logan the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hanc meam filiam, quam scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneam esse quae admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Gradum Doctoratus in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.