Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
1138. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide Ireland’s combined Fifth and Sixth report to the UN under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. [20230/22]
View answer1139. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 367 of 12 October 2021, if Ireland’s combined Fifth and Sixth report to the UN under the Convention on the Rights of the Child included an update on the State’s failure to ratify the Second Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography despite committing to as far back as 2012. [20231/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1138 and 1139 together.
The Deputy will be aware that in February 2022 Ireland submitted its Fifth and Sixth State Report under the Convention to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. The report is publicly available on the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth's website, a link to the relevant page is included below. The report is also available on the UN Human Rights Treaty Body Database.
www.gov.ie/en/publication/a1481d-united-nations-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child/.
The State Report responds to a List of Issues provided by the UN Committee to Ireland in November 2020, as such the content is dictated by the issues on which the Committee has requested information. The List of Issues Prior to Reporting did not include reference to the Second Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; therefore there is no reference to the issue in the State Report.
The Government continues to be strongly committed to the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I understand that officials in the Department of Justice are giving due consideration to legislative requirements to ensure that Ireland is in compliance with the obligations of the Optional Protocol and that there is engagement with the Office of the Attorney General on this matter.
