Robert Troy
Ceist:448. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when Ireland will submit our report on the implementation of our obligation to the UN Convention on rights of the child. [11066/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 5 March 2013
Ceisteanna (448)
Freagraí scríofa
Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992. Ireland submitted our second progress report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2005/2006. A third progress report was due to be submitted in 2009, but regrettably this did not happen. Therefore, following the establishment of my Department in June 2011, I directed that a substantial progress report, combining the 3rd and 4th reports, to cover the period 2006 to 2011 inclusive should be submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in mid 2012.
An Inter-Departmental Liaison Group was established to prepare the report and a draft of the report was completed in December 2012. The report was sent to the Children's Rights Alliance for their observations in December 2012. On foot of this, officials of my Department and the Inter-Departmental Liaison Group met with the Children's Rights Alliance and its member organisations on 28 January, 2013. Following this meeting the Children's Rights Alliance submitted initial observations to my Department on 8 February, followed by further observations on 25 February. These observations are currently being considered by my Department and it is my intention to finalise the report and bring it to Government shortly, in advance of submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The report outlines the most significant developments for children and how Ireland has been implementing the main aims of the UN Convention during the period 2006 to 2011 inclusive.