A/HRC/19/2 universal periodic review process by holding its own information sessions around the country and offering advice and guidance to people who wished to make submissions. Together with representatives from non-governmental organizations, they had supported the consultation process by providing independent speakers with the opportunity to take part in public meetings. 544. The protection and promotion of human rights required continuous review and updating. In Ireland, the Constitution provided a strong foundation for the protection of human rights, both those specified in the Constitution and derived from its underlying principles. There was also a strong legislative framework to further protect individuals from discrimination, inequality and unjust treatment. 545. The Government had announced its decision in September 2011 to improve Ireland’s human rights infrastructure by merging the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority into a new Human Rights and Equality Commission, in order to promote human rights and equality issues in a more effective, efficient and cohesive way. A working group comprising an interdepartmental chairperson, members of both existing bodies, and officials from the Department of Justice and Equality had held a consultation process to seek the views of civil society and members of the public on what the new body should do, what features and functions it should have, how it should be structured and what working methods it should employ. 546. The working group had almost completed its report, which would be presented to the Government shortly. The new Human Rights and Equality Commission would build on the achievements of the current bodies to forge an even stronger culture of human rights awareness and protection in Ireland. 547. Of the 127 recommendations made by Member States, Ireland had immediately accepted 62, was unable to support 15, and pledged to further examine 50. The Interdepartmental Working Group on the universal periodic review, comprising representatives from all relevant Government departments, had responded to 50 outstanding recommendations in the addendum. 548. Of the 50 pending recommendations, Ireland had fully accepted 29, partially accepted 17, and was unable to support only 4. The addendum contained concise explanations on the responses to each recommendation. Of a total of 127 recommendations, Ireland had fully accepted 91, and 17 had been accepted in part. 549. The most important phase of the entire process was the implementation of commitments. Some of the recommendations had already been implemented, while other areas of implementation were under way. 550. During the interactive dialogue, for example, many States had raised the question of prison accommodation, in particular, overcrowding and in-cell sanitation. On 6 March 2012, Minister Shatter had visited Mountjoy Prison in Dublin to inspect the recently refurbished C Division, which was due to reopen. Although the project was extremely complex, the refurbished accommodation would provide radically improved physical conditions for prisoners, including a dedicated committal/assessment area with 28 cells for new prisoners, as recommended by the Inspector of Prisons in his report of 2009, and a new dedicated drug-free area. The refurbishment project had also seen the introduction of in-cell sanitation in all cells in C Division; a similar refurbishment project would commence in B Division within the next few weeks, which, when completed, would involve the installation of in-cell sanitation in all cells in B Wing. A total of 317 cells in Mountjoy prison would therefore have in-cell sanitation, almost 60 per cent of the total prison, by the end of 2012. The developments in Mountjoy and the implementation of the proposals for Cork prison, which had been recently announced by the Minister, were the realization of the Government’s commitment, as indicated at the review of Ireland in October. 214 GE.13-14768