Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I understand that officials in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have offered to monitor and be part of a working group on the Aarhus Convention to help other European countries have their citizens acquire information on planning. When does Ireland propose to ratify the Aarhus Convention? Second, in a Government White Paper some years ago, a commitment was given to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Is the Minister in a position to indicate when Ireland proposes to ratify either of these two conventions? He also might indicate the number of ratifications that await the attention of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to enable Ireland to honour obligations for which it has signed.

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