Mr. Jarrod Clyne:

The threshold is the exhaustion of domestic remedies but if one can demonstrate that domestic remedies are likely to be ineffective, you do not have to go through an exhaustive process as such. Ireland has a very robust legal system but as the Senator has said, there are some situations where, in practice, access to justice can be exceedingly difficult particularly when asking the Judiciary to reconsider some very old practices that are unfortunately very prevalent in its constraint of state power. The optional protocol additionally has fewer requirements in terms of procedure from an individual perspective. People can simply file something and can have assistance from NGOs and from lawyers and it is not as technical in some ways as domestic processes are. There are also some advantages and flexibilities that it does offer.

The challenge of course is ensuring people know about the optional protocol once it is ratified and that they can have their rights facilitated and those views exchanged.