Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are all very welcome and I thank them for the very clear presentations. I commend them on the great work they are all doing in continuing to highlight this. Ms Lawlor is absolutely right about politics and priorities, and that is a huge issue. An important part of the work of this committee is continuing to keep a focus on issues like protection of human rights defenders. It has been a pleasure to work with Front Line Defenders on the awards. They also play an important role in highlighting and raising awareness. I also want to thank Trócaire for the great report, Making A Killing, which provides really useful information on all of this.

I have two specific questions. We take on board what the witnesses said about what the committee should be doing to press the Tánaiste on this and to ensure that there is effective and speedier implementation of the national plan and that we see results. Something everyone referred to is that companies generally in Ireland are unaware of the plan or of the soft obligations in the plan. Are there any proposals from the implementation group to raise awareness? Is there any communications strategy? If not, what sort of communications strategy would be effective? I imagine the research Ms Lawlor conducted would have had an effect in raising awareness among those 22 companies. What else can be done to raise awareness, and can this committee do anything on that specific point?

Reference has been made to the fact that Ireland is one of 16 member states that has a plan. France has gone further with legislation. Is there another model of best practice when we communicate with the Tánaiste? Can we cite instances where there has been a change in behaviour and increased and enhanced protection of human rights because companies have been made aware and have obligations? Is France the best model? Is there anywhere else that we can point to? If so, what else are they doing that we can learn from?