Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 February 2025
6. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to report on the progress of the business and human rights stakeholder forum; the number of times and dates on which the forum has met; if the action plan is now in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6376/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question specifically relates to the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Unfortunately, the first action plan we had, from 2017 to 2020, has now been out of date for five years. I ask specifically about the stakeholder forum that was set up. I know how often it met. When will we have the plan? It is to follow on the guiding principles that were accepted by the UN in 2011. Now, more than ever, in today's world, we need to embed human rights.
I thank Deputy Connolly for her question. The Department of Foreign Affairs and my Department established a dedicated business and human rights stakeholder forum with the participation of individuals with relevant expertise and responsibilities from key organisations across business, civil society, trade unions and academia to assist with the development of a second national action plan on business and human rights. The stakeholder forum has met on two occasions so far. The first meeting took place on 14 December 2023. Following this meeting, the two Departments presented a set of draft action points forming the basis of the new national plan. Stakeholders and members provided written feedback to be considered on 6 June. This feedback continues to be reviewed across all relevant Departments to ensure the actions are deliverable during the lifetime of the plan. I understand that officials from my Department met Deputy Connolly last July to discuss the plan and create a channel of communication for inputs. As many of the suggested actions relate to the work of other Departments, it is important that their feedback is received to understand their respective positions and to put in place a set of actions that are feasible, actionable and specific.
Officials from my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs continue to liaise with relevant officials right across government. It is taking time to work through the suggested updated actions with these officials as some of the updates are technical in nature. The work is ongoing and we are nearing completion. While it is taking a bit longer than would be expected to complete this work, I believe it is important that time has been taken to ensure we can present an ambitious plan with clear deliverable actions. The updated actions will be presented to a third stakeholder forum, which is expected to take place in the coming months. The finalised plan will cover a multiannual timeframe and will reflect new developments in the international understanding of business and human rights, including new EU instruments. It will have key performance indicators attached to it, which will have assigned responsibilities and timelines to adhere to. I expect to bring human rights to the forefront of the minds of Irish businesses so they can demonstrate their conscientious performance as required by the public.
I thank the Minister. I appreciate that the Department met me. It was a very helpful meeting and it is a way to work. There is, however, no progress in relation to the plan and we are into our fifth year. Trinity College did a report that was a snapshot of large firms operating in Ireland. The embedding of human rights principles received the lowest score. Embedding respect for human rights and conducting human rights due diligence was the theme on which companies, on average, scored the lowest. While some of the actions the Minister reports have been implemented from the last plan, no specific goals were delivered. There is an urgent need to publish this report based on human rights. We know that. I know from meeting personnel in the Minister's Department that they are absolutely doing their best. They are certainly committed to bringing this plan forward but where is the delay? The Minister is talking about a meeting of the stakeholders in a few months and yet he is talking about a plan that will be published soon. Will the Minister clarify that for me?
I thank Deputy Connolly for her intervention. A lot of the new EU instruments that are coming into context, and which this plan will have to respond to, are very technical in nature and we are trying to work these and bring them into the action plan. A significant number of the actions contained in this plan are under the purview of other Departments so obviously we are trying to work and liaise with them to ensure we have key deliverable actions agreed right across government. We are taking this very seriously. We know our obligations in terms of the UN to ensure we have the highest level of standards in human rights right at the heart of business. I assure the Deputy that we are taking it very seriously. I had a very significant discussion with officials yesterday on foot of the Deputy tabling this question for this morning. I will ensure that the action plan is published as quickly as possible, that key performance indicators are attached to it, that there are deliverables, and that it is monitored. We need to get it right to ensure we can deliver it in a timely manner.
I thank the Minister. I would love it if the Minister could give me a date on that. Why? It is because we are talking about embedding respect for human rights, and protecting, respecting and remedying human rights. While we fail to do that, this is the report from Trinity College, which is now dated, in relation to failure to embed human rights. I could cite various examples. As I understand it, the ESB is still importing coal from north-east Colombia - I will not insult anyone by attempting to pronounce the names of the mines - despite well-documented human rights abuses associated with the actions of that business. We are importing that. Airbnb Ireland allows tourism-related businesses based in illegal Israeli settlements to use its platform to advertise their services. Front Line Defenders, a very respected organisation, has reported 401 killings of human rights defenders in 2022 compared with 358 in 2021. Imagine that we are comparing the numbers of deaths of human rights defenders while there is no plan of action.
It is this Government that brought forward the idea in the programme for Government to deliver on this because we take our human rights obligations very seriously. One can see that from all our actions in multilateral forums, particularly the UN. I met Volker Türk, the head of UN human rights, on many occasions in my last brief. We take very seriously our obligations.
With regard to the report, some of the areas are very technical in nature because new EU instruments have come on board that we have to respond to. Secondly, it is always very dangerous for a politician to come in and give a date when some of the actions are not under the purview of my Department. I cannot force other Departments to respond immediately.
The Minister might forward them-----
I will endeavour to come back to the Deputy with a timeline as soon as I can get a clear line of sight across government as to when we can deliver it. I do not want to come forward with a plan that I cannot deliver, or which does not have actionable points or delivery dates on it. That is the most important point that I want to have as a stamp of my Ministry.
