Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:201 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of times the monitoring committee on the Commission on the Status of Women has met in each of the years 1995-2001. [12499/01]
Vol. 535 No. 2
201 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of times the monitoring committee on the Commission on the Status of Women has met in each of the years 1995-2001. [12499/01]
In accordance with a recommendation in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, a monitoring committee was set up to monitor the implementation of the recommendations in that report.
The monitoring committee held its first meeting on 3 March 1994 and met on the following occasions in the years 1995-1997: 19 June 1995; 27 June 1995; 27 February 1996; 22 April 1996 and 22 April 1997.
202 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the outstanding recommendations of the Commission on the Status of Women; and if he will outline his policy in this area. [12500/01]
The Commission on the Status of Women made 211 recommendations comprising more than 600 parts.
In accordance with a recommendation in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, a monitoring committee was set up to monitor the implementation of these recommendations.
Three monitoring reports were published – one in 1994, a second in 1996 and the third in 1999. These reports monitored the implementation of the recommendations, indicating where progress was made and where obstacles to implementation occurred.
In 1999, on the advice of the Gender Equality Monitoring Committee, my Department, commissioned research on the development of mechanisms to monitor progress in achieving gender equality in Ireland, which is due for publication shortly. The terms of reference of the research included assessing the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and making proposals regarding concrete steps towards implementation where recommendations could be implemented.
The research reviewed the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women and concluded that over three quarters of the 211 recommendations were implemented or were on the policy agenda by 1999-2000, that one-fifth were outstanding and that a small number were obsolete. The research highlighted difficulties in assessing implementation of the recommendations. In part, the difficulty was with the generalised nature of many of the recommendations and the large number of reforms sought. A further problem was encountered in measuring the policies produced in response to many of the recommendations as, unless subsequent policies did exactly as the recommendations called for, it was sometimes difficult to evaluate whether policy responses matched the report's recommendations. An additional complexity was that any assessment was subjective, as perceptions as to what constituted substantial as distinct from partial implementation depended on the perspective of the person carrying out the assessment.
Furthermore, progress is ongoing in certain areas covered by the recommendations. For example, substantial progress is being made in relation to childcare including the allocation of very substantial funding, amounting to £344 million over the period 2000-2006 and further work remains to be done over the coming years.