Ms Ciara McKenna-Keane:

It was part of the programme for Government in June 2020 that once the initial state party report was presented, which was done at the end of last year, we would ratify the optional protocol. That report stated that the Government is waiting for the decision support service to bed down before ratifying the optional protocol, but it just feels like the goalposts keep moving once we get to the next stage. We would be very supportive of ratifying that. All rights should be justiciable and actionable. That is the point here. Children should have somewhere to go where they can say something needs to be done. That would be the case for children under the UNCRC or children with disabilities under the UNCRPD.