Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Ireland is yet to ratify the optional protocol and it took us ten years to ratify the UN convention. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission was before the committee as was the UN special rapporteur. They both said that Ireland can ratify the optional protocol in the morning. There is no good reason for delaying any further. We consistently hear from the Department that it needs measures such as the assisted decision-making Act to be in place beforehand and that it needs all these other things. It keeps shifting the goalposts and putting something else in the way that means we cannot apparently ratify. To alleviate some of the worry about ratification that seems to be blown out of all proportion here, did Australia encounter any disasters after it ratified the optional protocol?