Vol. 575 No. 1
209 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the Government will produce a national action plan for women as promised in 1995 as part if its commitments under the Beijing platform for action; and the Government's plans for implementation of its promise, including the development process, concrete measures under active consideration, resources to be allocated and the timeframe involved. [27928/03]
Ireland's report to the United Nations on the national plan for women 2002 on the implementation of the Beijing platform for action was submitted to the UN in October 2002. It fulfilled a commitment to implement the UN Beijing agreement on the advancement of women. The report described in detail Ireland's existing commitments to advancing the status of women in Irish society.
As part of the development of the national plan for women a wide-ranging consultation process was held that culminated in ten regional fora being held at various locations here in March 2002. As many as 335 written submissions were received on a wide and diverse range of issues.
The views and aspirations of women, as articulated during the consultation process, are reproduced in a report entitled, Aspirations of Women collected in the course of the Consultation Process on the National Plan for Women 2002: Towards a National Women's Strategy. It was published at the same time as Ireland's report to the UN on the National Plan for Women 2002.
A key recommendation in the report to the UN, on the implementation of the Beijing platform for action, was the development of a national women's strategy as the framework for Ireland's gender equality agenda for the coming years. The Government has undertaken to develop a five year national women's strategy under the Sustaining Progress agreement.
